Analysis of sLEACH for improvement of network lifetime in Wireless Sensor Networks.

A wireless sensor network (WSN) is a computer network consisting of spatially distributed autonomous devices using sensors to cooperatively monitor physical or environmental conditions. Wireless sensor networks are used in military applications and many civilian application areas, including environment and habitat monitoring. Each node in a sensor network is typically equipped with a radio transceiver, a small microcontroller, and an energy source, usually a battery. Due to limited battery life of sensor nodes, energy consumption is the most important factor that determines sensor node lifetime. This Thesis surveys contributions addressing energy efficient protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). Analysis of solar aware LEACH (sLEACH) with and without using solar nodes exhibits significant power conservation and proves that environmental energy harvesting, particularly solar based, is a viable technique to supplement battery supplies. Comparison of Centralized and Distributed sLEACH shows that distributed sLEACH performs better when solar nodes are increased.