Energy Balanced Self-Configuring Sensor Networks

Like other distributed systems, unattended sensor networks need to be balanced, especially energy balanced. Lifetime of a sensor network can be maximized if a balanced network is formed. In this research, we characterize nodes based on their residual energy levels and distribute tasks according to a node s capability to balance energy over the network. We characterize a node as SEN, when that node is having sufficient energy to perform additional responsibilities other than its own sensing task. Otherwise, we characterize a node as NEN, when that node is having only a small amount of energy to perform its own tasks. Every node starts as SEN and at some point it becomes NEN based on a predefined threshold value. Thus, the nodes are protected from the early exhaustions. A virtual self-configuring clustering technique is also developed to rotate the tasks among nodes. We apply our approach to a simulation environment and the results justify our assertion.