Study on the Hierarchical Routing Protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks

Routing the sensed data is considered a main challenge in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) because the routing characteristics may vary depending on the network application and/or the network architecture. Since most sensor network applications work in clusters, hierarchical routing protocols have been developed to fit this network topology. This paper introduces the performance differentials for most common hierarchical routing protocols such as Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) and Threshold sensitive Energy Efficient sensor Network protocol (TEEN). The design parameters of sensor networks are analyzed to present a classification and comparison of LEACH, TEEN routing protocols. The two protocols are analyzed using different mobility models using NS2 simulation tool. This comparison reveals the important features that need to be taken into consideration while designing and evaluating new routing protocols for sensor networks.