EEQR: An Energy Efficient Query-Based Routing Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is a very challenging task due to the large number of nodes, their mobility and lack of proper infrastructure. Since the sensors are battery powered devices, energy efficiency is considered as one of the main factors in designing routing protocols in WSNs. Most of energy-aware routing protocols are mere energy savers that attempt to decrease the energy consumption. But it is vital to balance the energy consumption in the network to avoid network partitioning. This paper proposes an energy efficient query-based routing protocol called EEQR. This protocol is able to operate as both energy saver and energy balancer. In addition, it is intended for contexts in which geographic routing criteria are not applicable. The results of EEQR simulations are compared with some well-known query-based routing protocols. Results show that EEQR achieves significant improvements in terms of energy saving and energy balancing.