ABSTRACT
Energy conservation in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is a key area of research aimed at addressing the challenge of efficient energy utilization. This is due to the fact that the Sensor Nodes (SNs) have limited energy. The limited energy has to be utilized efficiently in order to provide longer network lifetime for the wireless sensor network (WSN). To reduce energy consumption in WSNs, an improved multi-hop routing protocol (mEEMRP) in WSNs based on cluster head (CH) load balancing technique was developed in this research work. The protocol used the residual energy (RE) of cluster heads (CHs) and adopted an election energy threshold (TnhCH) to reduce the energy consumption of the SNs in the network, thereby increasing the network lifetime. This research work was carried out on MATLAB R2015b and the performance of the improved protocol was compared in terms of network lifetime (node death percentage), energy consumption percentage and number of packets received at the base station (BS) in a homogeneous WSN. Results obtained from simulation showed that mEEMRP achieved an average percentage improvement of the network lifetime, energy consumption percentage and number of packets received at the BS by 1.77%, 4.83%, and 7.41% respectively in a 200m by 200m network field. Also, results obtained from simulations showed that mEEMRP in a 400m by 400m network field improved the network lifetime, energy consumption percentage and number of packets received at the BS by 10.65%, 9.2%, and 12.5% respectively. Two network field scenarios were used to test the scalability of the improved protocol. The results of this research work showed that mEEMRP has a better network lifetime, better energy consumption and more number of packets received at the BS when compared with an existing energy efficient multi-hop routing protocol (EEMRP) in a WSN.