Impacts of structural factors on energy consumption in cluster-based wireless sensor networks: a comprehensive analysis

TL;DR

This paper thoroughly analyzes how different structural factors like cluster size, node density, and sink placement affect energy consumption in cluster-based wireless sensor networks, providing extensive simulation results.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive investigation into the effects of various structural configurations on energy efficiency, filling a gap in existing research.

Findings

Optimal cluster size reduces energy consumption.

Multiple sinks can improve network lifetime.

Topology structure significantly impacts energy efficiency.

Abstract

Limited energy is the major driving factor for research on wireless sensor networks. Clustering alleviates this energy shortage problem by reducing data traffic conveyed over the network and therefore several clustering methods are proposed in the literature. Researchers put forward their methods by making serious assumptions such as always locating single sink at one side of the topology or making clusters near to the sink with smaller sizes. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no comprehensive research that investigates the effects of various structural alternatives on energy consumption of wireless sensor networks. In this paper, we thoroughly analyse the impact of various structural approaches such as cluster size, number of tiers in the topology, node density, position and number of sinks. Extensive simulation results are provided. The results show that the best performance about