A Configurable Routing Protocol for Improving Lifetime and Coverage Area in Wireless Sensor Networks

The particularities of Wireless Sensor Networks require specially designed protocols. Nodes in these networks often possess limited access to energy (usually supplied by batteries), which imposes energy constraints. Additionally, WSNs are commonly deployed in monitoring applications, which may intend to cover large areas. Several techniques have been proposed to improve energy-balance, coverage area or both at the same time. In this paper, an alternative solution is presented. It consists of three main components: Fuzzy C-Means for network clustering, a cluster head rotation mechanism and a sleep scheduling algorithm based on a modified version of Particle Swarm Optimization. Results show that this solution is able to provide a configurable routing protocol that offers reduced energy consumption, while keeping highcoverage area.