Abstract:

The low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy（LEACH）for wireless sensor networks prescribes that each cluster head sends fused data directly to base station, so cluster heads that are farther away from base station consume more energy, resulting in unbalanced energy consumption of the entire network. A data fusion oriented clustered routing protocol based on LEACH is presented to reduce the energy consumption of the cluster heads and to balance the energy consumption of the entire network. In this protocol, a cluster head estimates which neighboring clusters also sensed the same event by the locations of its member nodes during intra cluster data fusion process; data is fused among these cluster heads hop by hop before transferred to base station afterwards. Simulations show that this protocol can effectively prolong the life time of the sensor network.

Key words: wireless sensor networks, clustered routing protocol, data fusion