Performance Analysis of Energy-aware Routing Protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks using Different Radio Models

A routing protocol is the nervous system of any computer network. In a network where hundreds or thousands of nodes are working simultaneously, the job of a routing protocol is to identify or discover one or more path connecting a pair of nodes under a given set of constraints. The prime requirement for a routing protocol is to optimize the network performance. Ad hoc networks form a distinct category of networks whereby nodes are wirelessly connected to each other and may be in constant random motion. The performance of ad hoc networks like sensor networks differs with different radio models. This paper present simulation results of a comparative investigation of the performance of energy-aware routing protocols for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) based on different radio models using routing modeling application simulation environment (RMASE), an application built on a probabilistic wireless network simulator (PROWLER). We further compared Termite-hill and Ad-hoc on Demand Distance Vector (AODV) protocols performance in sink mobility using the Normal Radio Model. Our simulation results indicate that the energy aware routing objectives of Termite-hill, Sensor driven and cost-aware ant routing (SC) and Improved Energy Efficient Ant Based routing (IEEABR) protocols increases the network lifetime for Normal Radio Model (NRM), Radio Model with Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (RMSINR) and Radio Model with Rayleigh Fading (RMRYF).