MEA: an energy efficient algorithm for dense sector-based wireless sensor networks

In this article, first the energy efficiency of sector-shaped wireless sensor networks is analytically investigated. Based on this study, it is shown that the efficiency of existing data propagation algorithms which consider equal ring width is not optimal and may be improved further. Then, we introduce an energy efficient algorithm for these networks which is called minimum energy algorithm (MEA). The detailed analysis verifies that the proposed algorithm has the minimum energy consumption. Although the main emphasis of the proposed technique is on minimizing the energy, it somehow balances the energy consumption in the sector-shaped network as well. In addition, it is shown that the proposed idea can be applied to all existing energy balancing algorithms. The efficacy of the proposed algorithm is studied for networks with different sizes and node densities. The results show that, for example, for a network with a radius of 440 m and four rings when the MEA algorithm is combined with an efficient full power control algorithm (based on equal ring width), the energy conservation increases 50% more. Finally, the results show that the energy conservation of the proposed algorithm increases with the network size.Peer reviewe