An Energy Efficiency-oriented Routing Protocol for Wireless Rechargeable Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor network (WSN) is an important part of the Internet of Things, but the limited energy of sensors is one of the most critical design issues in WSN deployment. The wireless rechargeable sensor network (WRSN) using wireless charging technology is a feasible solution to extend the lifetime of the network. However, the existing routing protocols do not make full use of this technology. In this paper, we propose EEHP (Energy Efficiency-oriented Heterogeneous Paradigm), a routing protocol based on multi-hop data transmission. It can reduce the energy cost of sensors to transmit data and shorten the distance that mobile charger (MC) needs to travel for replenishing energy-critical sensors. Compared with state-of-the-art schemes, the simulation results show that EEHP has great advantages in terms of network lifetime.

I. Introduction

In the past decades, the Internet of Things (IoT) has become a hot research topic, because it connects various sensors and objects, and can collect and use data without human intervention. [1]. As one of the important parts of the IoT, Wireless sensor network (WSN) is composed of widely distributed sensor nodes, which can collect and transmit environmental information at a very low cost.