ENERGY BALANCING CLUSTERED ROUTING PROTOCOL FOR HETEROGENEOUS SENSOR NETWORK

A heterogeneous ring domain communication topology with equal area in each ring is presented in this study in an effort to solve the energy balance problem in original RPL (IPv6 Routing Protocol for Low Power and Lossy Networks). A new clustering algorithm and event-driven cluster head rotation mechanism are also proposed based on this topology. The clustering information announcement message and clustering acknowledgment message were designed according to RFC and original RPL message structure. An Energy-Ef icient Heterogeneous Ring Clustering (E2HRC) routing protocol for wireless sensor networks is then proposed and corresponding routing algorithms and maintenance methods are established. Related messages are analyzed in detail. Experimental results show that in comparison against the original RPL, the E2HRC routing protocol more effectively balances wireless sensor network energy consumption, thus decreasing both node energy consumption and the number of control messages.