Theoretical analysis of the lifetime and energy hole in cluster based wireless sensor networks

Cluster based wireless sensor networks have been widely used due to the good performance. However, in so many cluster based protocols, because of the complexity of the problem, theoretical analysis and optimization remain difficult to develop. This paper studies the performance optimization of four protocols theoretically. They are LEACH (Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy), MLEACH (Multi-hop LEACH), HEED (Hybrid Energy-Efficient Distributed Clustering Approach), and UCR (Unequal Cluster based Routing). The maximum FIRST node DIED TIME (FDT) and the maximum ALL node DIED TIME (ADT) are obtained for the first time in this paper, as well as the optimal parameters which maximize the network lifetime. Different from previous analysis of network lifetime, this paper analyzes the node energy consumption in different regions through the differential analysis method. Thus, the optimal parameters which maximize the lifetime can be obtained and the detailed energy consumption in different regions at different time can be also obtained. Moreover, we can obtain the time and space evolution of the network, from a steady state (without any death) to a non-steady state (with some death of nodes), and then to the final situation (all nodes die). Therefore, we are fully aware of the network status from spatial and temporal analysis. Additionally, the correctness of the theoretical analysis in this paper is proved by the Omnet++ experiment results. This conclusion can be an effective guideline for the deployment and optimization of cluster based networks. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.