Lifetime Optimization via Network Sectoring in Cooperative Wireless Sensor Networks

Employing cooperative communication in multihop wireless sensor networks provides the network with significant energy efficiency. However, the lifetime of such a network is directly dependant upon the lifetime of each of its individual sections (or clusters). Ignoring the fact that those sections close to sink have to forward more data (their own data plus the data received from the previous sections) and hence die sooner with considering equal section sizes, leads to a sub-optimal lifetime. In this paper, we optimize the section sizes of a multihop cooperative WSN so that it maximizes the network lifetime. Simulation results demonstrate a significant lifetime enhancement for the proposed optimal sectoring.