TLAEEP: A Traffic Load-Aware Energy Efficient Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

With the improvement of miniaturized fabrication and battery technologies, the topic of deploying a wireless sensor network which uses tiny sensors with the abilities of detecting environmental factors and processing data is getting more and more important for different environments and applications. However, the resource limitation in a sensor brings out an important issue. The challenges for saving energy and thus extending the lifespan of a sensor are conceivable. This paper proposes a protocol involving multi-hops and self-organization of routing paths. The method, using time division with reservation scheduling, reduces energy consumption and prevents packet collisions. The routing decision takes the transmission cost, the battery status and the traffic load into consideration. This yields efficient routings and results in energy savings in sensors. The experimental results show that the system's lifespan is extended dramatically while staying robust under different environmental parameters.