Energy Consumption and Network Performance Analysis of WSN using LEACH Protocol

Abstract

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) consist of a large number of sensor nodes that collect data from the environment and send it to a base station (sink). One of the important limiting factors of a WSN is the energy of its sensor nodes that limits the lifetime of a WSN. As the nodes have limited power, some networks use clustering to conserve power. Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) protocol is one such protocol that forms clusters of nodes in WSN for energy conservation. However, cluster formation itself can be an energy consuming process. In this paper we examined LEACH protocol in simulated environment to analyse its energy consumption. In addition, we have also analysed network performance with different traffic loads, node densities and sizes of WSN in terms of area. The results present significant insights into the working of LEACH protocol and the trade-offs between different parameters. The results depict that LEACH protocol consumes significant energy even when the nodes send no data. Also, the optimum CH percentage values for LEACH at different packet rates are between 5 to 10 percent.