Load Balancing in Wireless Sensor Networks using Multiple Cluster Heads

• Published in: 2020 IEEE-HYDCON pp. 1 - 7
• Main Authors: Chauhan, Arun Avinash, Udgata, Siba Kumar
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 11.09.2020
• Subjects: Clustering algorithms; Heuristic algorithms; Internet of Things; Load balancing; Load management; Multiple cluster heads; Routing; Wireless communication; Wireless sensor networks
• DOI: 10.1109/HYDCON48903.2020.9242754

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) operate in an energy constrained environment. Prudent approaches that minimize energy usage and consequently maximize network up-time are a subject of much research. Load balancing is a paradigm whose primary aim is to improve network lifetime by balancing the amount of work done by nodes in a network. In this work, we present a novel and simple technique to balance the work done by Cluster Heads (CHs) in clustered WSNs. In most clustered WSNs, CHs take up a majority of the routing and processing work and hence run out of energy sooner. Our proposed approach shares the responsibility of a CH among other non CH nodes in a cluster provided they are comparable to the CH on the CH selection criteria. We built on this idea and using a heuristic approach, built an algorithm that divides workload equally among a CH and some non CHs in a cluster. The selected non CHs are nearly as good as the CH. We tested our implementation on LEACH clustering algorithm. Results show balanced energy utilization and substantial increase in network lifetime.