Load-Balancing Enhancement by a Mobile Data Collector in Wireless Sensor Networks

Decrease in the time interval between the first node death and the last node death, due to the completion of their energy supply, is the main goal of load-balancing methods in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). This paper proposes a Load-Balancing Enhancement (LBE) method, in WSN. LBE method uses a mobile data collector to data gathering from sensor nodes. The mobile data collector can directly communicate with the base station. Indeed, the mobile data collector acts as an interface between sensor nodes and the base station. LBE method divides WSN to four logical partitions. Then, LBE method directs the mobile data collector to the center of each logical partition of the network with considering the density and the mean residual energy of the desired partition, i.e., the more the partition density and the mean residual energy, the more the obtaining chance of the desired partition. Simulation results that have been implemented with NS-2 software show LBE method achieves load-balancing in energy consumption for all logical partitions. LBE method also balances logical partitions density and it increases the network coverage efficiency.