SEESH: Sleep-Awake Energy Efficient Super
Heterogeneous Routing Protocol for Wireless
Sensor Networks
Vikas Singh1, V.M. Thakkar2, and Vasudev Goswami3
1,2,3
Computer Science and Engineering GBPEC, Pauri Ghurdauri, India
vkspharswan@yahoo.com, vmthakkar1@rediffmail.com, vasud1g@gmail.com
Abstract—Wireless Sensor Networks are extensively using the
idea of heterogeneity to increase the throughput, network
lifetime, and stability. Many routing algorithms on the idea of
heterogeneity are proposed that mainly focuses on energy
efficiency, stability, network lifetime, and clustering processes
and many more are likely to come. We put forward Sleep-Awake
Energy Efficient Super Heterogeneous (SEESH) protocol. This
protocol assumes four levels of heterogeneity in conjunction with
the pairing of nodes. These nodes are deployed in four different
energy regions to exploit heterogeneity at maximum. In each pair
of node, one node sleeps and saves the energy resources while the
other node awakes and transfers the data to cluster head. The
cluster heads in each region are chosen based on average energy
of each four energy regions and remaining energy of nodes. The
results are verified and proved using MATLAB.
Index Terms— Super heterogeneous; Cluster head; Sleep-
Awake; Energy efficiency; WSN’s.
I. INTRODUCTION
The medium of our communication have changed rapidly in
the past years. Communication without any physical links is
known as Wireless communication. The trend of wireless
technology has grown very swiftly and is gaining more
popularity because of less complexity and cost. The networks
used for such communication is called Wireless networks [11].
The network that achieves the wireless communication using
sensors is termed as Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). The
deployed sensor node senses the environment, communicates
with each other, and transmits the data to the destination,
which is often called the Sink or the Base Station (BS).
Grouping of nodes together to perform an explicit task such as
data collection and data transmission is called a clustering.
Clustering helps in improving the efficiency of the given
network [9]. Now, in a cluster of nodes a cluster head (CH) is
elected based on probability equation, which is accountable
for data transmission to the BS.
Clustering protocols are mainly divided into two categories:
Homogeneous protocols [1, 4] and Heterogeneous protocols
[2, 3, and 5]. Homogeneous protocols consist of sensors
having same practical characteristics like having same amount
of initial energies. Heterogeneous protocols on the other hand
are vice-versa of homogeneous network.
Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) [4] is a
well-known homogeneous clustering protocol. It allows each
node to be a CH based on probability; every node has an equal
chance of being a CH in LEACH. The main shortcoming of
LEACH is that low energy nodes are also eligible to become a
CH, which decreases the performance of LEACH. Stable
Election Protocol (SEP) [5] is also a conventional well-known
heterogeneous protocol that assumes mainly two levels of
heterogeneity i.e. Normal nodes and Advanced nodes.
Different energy levels are provided to the different levels and
the CH selection is entirely based on the initial energies of the
nodes.
Since the sensor nodes are battery operated and have only
restricted amount of energy to use, it is important for
researchers to develop the protocols that are energy efficient
[10]. The purpose of this research is to develop one such
protocol. Our aim is to develop energy efficient routing
protocol with the following contributions summarized as –
• To exploit heterogeneity maximally division of
network field into four equal regions.
• Introducing sub-clustering of nodes for decreasing
repeated data transmission to BS.
• Using Sleep-awake strategy to save power resource.
• Electing CHs based on average energy in each region
and remaining energy of nodes.
The rest of the paper is arranged as follows Section II
represents the previous related work, Section III represents the
network model of the proposed protocol, In Section IV we
discuss the proposed protocol in detail, Section V shows the
Simulation and results done in MATLAB and finally in
Section VI we draw the final conclusion.
II. RELATED WORK
In [6], authors have proposed a reactive routing protocol
termed as Threshold Sensitive Energy Efficient Sensor
Network Protocol (TEEN). In reactive routing the nodes
present in the network reacts to only rapid and extreme
changes in the sensed values of attributes, the nodes does not
switch on their sensors periodically like proactive protocols. In
TEEN 2 threshold values- Hard threshold and Soft threshold is
defined for nodes in a cluster. These thresholds are provided to
the nodes by the cluster head and the nodes send the data to
CH if and only if the threshold criterion is met. Due to this
energy of nodes is saved, as the number of transmissions is
less. The shortcoming of TEEN is that in case if the thresholds
that are provided are not met then nodes will remain idle and
will not transfer any data. Time-critical applications are best
suited for TEEN.
In [3], the authors have proposed a heterogeneous protocol
called Centralized Energy Efficient Clustering Protocol
(CEEC). The authors have introduced three levels of
heterogeneity. The network area is split into three rectangular
regions that are equal in size. The regions are named as High
Energy Region containing super nodes only, Medium Energy
Region containing advanced nodes only and Low Energy
Region containing normal nodes only. Nodes can form cluster
with their own types only. BS is responsible for selecting the
CH in each round. BS selects CH based on distance from BS
and energy. The CHs sending data from distance looses the
energy very quickly and thus effecting the lifetime and
stability of network. CEEC elects equal number of CHs for
every round and provides stability to the network.
In [2], the authors have proposed a super heterogeneous
protocol termed as Balanced Energy Efficient Network
Integrated Super Heterogeneous Protocol (BEENISH). In
BEENISH, four levels of heterogeneity is brought into
consideration, the different levels of nodes are known as –
normal, advanced, super and ultra-super nodes. The nodes are
spread randomly all over the network and the selection of CH
is purely based on the remaining energy as well as average
energy of the deployed nodes. The CH selection strategy of
BEENISH allows the nodes with higher energies to become a
CH. Thus, ultra-super nodes have more chances to become a
CH. Electing CHs with more energy helps to gain more
stability and lifetime.
In [1], the authors have proposed an intelligent
homogeneous routing protocol called Energy Efficient Sleep-
awake aware (EESAA) intelligent routing protocol. In
EESAA, the authors introduced the sub-clustering and pairing
of the nodes. In each pair of nodes, only one member node is
accountable for sending the data to CH in each round. The
other node in the pair stays in a sleep state to save energy. The
CHs are elected purely based on residual energy of nodes. The
sleep-awake strategy not only saves the energy of nodes but
also stops the transmission of redundant data. However, some
nodes in EESAA are unable to pair up with other nodes and
they remain active during the whole time, these active nodes
lose their energy rapidly and thus are responsible for
decreasing the stability.
In [7], the authors have proposed a protocol Distributed
Energy Efficient Clustering Algorithm (DEEC). DEEC is
heterogeneous in nature and election of CHs is done on the
probability that is entirely based on remaining energy and
average energy of the network. The CHs election strategy in
DEEC helps to increase the stability and network lifetime.
The nodes that have higher residual energies are more likely to
become CH and thus lower energy nodes are allowed only to
sense the environment and transmit the collected data to CHs.
In [8], the authors have proposed an energy-aware
clustering algorithm (EADC). EADC uses two algorithms that
are- An Energy-Aware Clustering Algorithm and a Cluster-
Based Routing Algorithm. A CH competition phase is ordered
in each round in order to select CHs of higher energy. CHs
broadcast the head messages in order to create clusters of
same sizes thus balancing the energy well. In order to deal
with the high intra-cluster energy consumption due to non-
uniform nodes distribution in dense areas, the protocol uses
multi-hoping protocol, in which a CH selects the neighbor CH
that has higher remaining energy then other clusters and
contains lesser number of member nodes as next hop and thus
balancing the energies of CH.
In [12], the authors have proposed a new heterogeneous
routing protocol for WSNs named as Energy efficient
Multilevel Heterogeneous Routing Protocol (EEMHR). The
authors have implemented k levels of heterogeneity and a
variable threshold is used to elect CHs in each level.
III. HETEROGENEOUS NETWORK MODEL
We assume that the network consists of N number of nodes
and the nodes are spread randomly in a rectangular region. We
divide our sensing area in four equal R × R rectangular regions
based on different energy levels as shown in Fig.1.
The BS is kept outside the sensing area at any random
position and the Normal Energy Region (NER) containing all
normal nodes is placed near the BS. The next region is
Intermediate Energy Region (IER), all the nodes in this region
are intermediate nodes and it is placed next to the LER.
Advanced Energy Region (AER) containing all the advanced
nodes is placed next to IER and at last, Super Energy Region
(SER) containing all the super nodes is placed far away from
BS next to AER. The CHs are directly communicating to the
BS and NER is placed closest to BS as the CHs of NER are
having low energy, SER is placed farthest to BS because more
energy is required by the CHs as they are transmitting the data
from a longer distance.
Furthermore, concept of sub-clustering (pairing) is
included to reduce the repeated transmissions of data from
sensor nodes that are very close to each other. Sub-clustering
helps to minimize redundant data transmissions as the nodes
that are placed very close to each other are constantly sending
the same data in each round. Fig 2 represents the pairing-up of
nodes, formation of clusters and CH selection. The nodes
deployed in similar region are allowed only to pair up with
their own types of nodes and the nodes are allowed to
associate to their own type of CHs.
 Thus, the total energy of the entire network can be calculated
as:

Etotal = E0 ( N nor + N int (1 + α ) +

(6)
N adv (1 + 2α ) + N sup (1 + 3α ))

IV. THE SEESH PROTOCOL

Fig. 1 Heterogeneous Network Model
In this section, SEESH protocol is described in detail. Our
algorithm is divided in four phases as- Pairing and sub-
clustering phase, Cluster Head selection phase, Cluster
members association phase and Data transmission phase.
Now we present the details of each phase.

1. Pairing and Sub-clustering phase

In this phase the deployed nodes in the network area
sends a Hello message to their neighboring nodes.
The message constitutes of node Id (N_ID), location
of node (L_ND), distance of node (D_ND) and
number of neighbors (N_NB). All the nodes then
maintains a table and forms a pair or sub-cluster
based on the above given parameters. The nodes with
in a close communication range of less than 10
meters are likely to form a pair.
2. CHs Selection Phase
Fig.2 Cluster Head Selection The CHs in each region are selected separately based
on the average energy of that particular region. The
N nodes are distributed evenly in the entire region and Nnor average energy of a region is calculated as given in
numbers of normal nodes are deployed in NER, Nint numbers below equations.
of intermediate nodes are deployed in IER, Nadv numbers of For, NER the average energy of normal nodes will be
advanced nodes are deployed in AER and Nsup numbers of
calculated as:
Super nodes are deployed in SER. Then N can be calculated
as: N nor
1
N = N +N +N +N
nor int adv sup
(1)
Enor (r ) =
N nor  E(
i =1
nor .i ) (r ) (7)

Nnor have initial energy as E0 whereas, Nint, Nadv and Nsup are For, IER the average energy of Intermediate nodes
provided with , 2 and 3 times more energy than E0. The total will be:
energy of normal nodes is calculated as:
Nint
1
Enor = N nor E0 (2) Eint (r ) =
Nint E
i =1
(int.i ) ( r ) (8)

Total energy of intermediate nodes is: For, AER the average energy of advanced nodes will
be:
Eint = Nint E0 (1 + α ) (3)
N adv
1
Total energy of advanced nodes is: Eadv (r ) =
N adv E
i =1
( adv.i ) ( r ) (9)
Eadv = N adv E0 (1 + 2α ) (4)
Similarly, for SER the average energy of super nodes
will be calculated as:
Total energy of super nodes is:
N sup
1
Esup = Nsup E0 (1 + 3α ) (5) Esup (r ) =
Nsup E
i =1
(sup.i ) ( r ) (10)
Now, the CHs from each region are selected on the probability V. SIMULATION AND RESULTS
basis, each node from every region decides itself to be a CH in The simulation of SEESH is done in MATLAB and Table 1
every round. A random number is chosen in between 0 and 1 represents the parameters that are used for simulation purpose.
by each node ni. If that random chosen number is less than the We considered a 100m×100m area with four types of nodes
threshold then the node ni is considered to be the CH for deployed namely: Normal (nor), Intermediate (int), Advanced
current round. The rotating eepoch is selected differently for (adv) and Super nodes (sup). The energy provided to these
each node based on remaining energy of node. The threshold nodes is 0.2J, 0.4J, 0.6J and 0.8J respectively. The simulation
is selected as: region is divided into four regions as Normal Energy Region,
Intermediate Energy Region, Advanced Energy region and
 pnor Super Energy Region. NER is kept close to the BS and SER is
 1
 1 − pnor * ( r mod ) * Enor ( r ) kept far from BS. BS is placed outside of the region at an
 pnrm arbitrary place. Fig. 3 shows the number of alive nodes with
 pint respect to the number of rounds, Fig. 4 shows the number of

 1 − p ( r mod 1 ) * E ( r ) packets sent to the BS with respect to the number of rounds.
 int*
pint
int Number of Alive Nodes
 100
T ( si ) =  padv if s i ∈ G 90
 1 (11)
 1 − padv* ( r mod ) * Eadv ( r ) 80
 p adv
 psup 70

 1 − p ( r mod 1 ) * E ( r ) 60
 sup*
psup
sup
50

 0 40

30
3. Cluster Members Association Phase
20
After the CHs are elected for each round, non-CH
10
member node of different energy regions decides to
which CHs they will get associated. This selection of 0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000
association of non-CHs members is decided based on Rounds
Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), it is an Fig. 3 Alive nodes with respect to Number of Rounds
advertisement received by the non-CHs nodes.
4. Data Transmission Phase
After the association of non-CHs member nodes to
CHs. The CHs provides a Time Division Multiple
Access (TDMA) schedule to every non-CH
associated members. In the provided time slot the
member nodes of cluster communicates and transfers
their collected data to their related CHs. Further, the
data transmission phase of the protocol is longer
compared to the above-discussed protocols.

Table 1. Parameters used in Simulation

Variables Values
Area of Field 100m,100m
Number of Nodes 100
Probability 0.1 Fig. 4 Packets sent to Base Station with respect to Number
Eelec 50nJ/bit of Rounds
ɛfs 10pJ/bit/m2 Fig. 5 shows the cluster head Election of the proposed
ɛmp 100pJ/bit/m2 protocol. The cluster head election is kept very even for our
Initial Energies 0.2J,0.4J,0.6J,0.8J proposed protocol and the number of elected CHs is always
Message Size 4000 kept below 10, which helps in minimizing the energy
consumption, as the more the number of CHs, the more the
energy will be consumed.
 Number of Cluster heads per round
10

0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000
Rounds

Fig. 5 Number of Cluster Heads Elected in each round

Fig. 6 Stability comparison graphs of BEENISH, EESAA
and SEESH
Fig. 6 shows the stability comparison graphs between three
protocols BEENISH, EESAA and SEESH. The first node of
BEENISH, EESAA and SEESH dies around 1600, 1800 and
2400 rounds. SEESH tends to be 50%, and 33.5% more stable
than BEENISH and EESAA. Thus, SEESH is much better as
compared to BEENISH and EESAA in terms of stability.
Fig. 7 represents the comparison of network lifetime
comparisons of these protocols. The lifetime of BEENISH,
EESAA and SEESH is around 3500, 4000 and 5000 rounds
approximately.
Fig. 7 Lifetime comparisons
VI. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
We proposed an energy aware protocol, which uses the sleep
awake strategy in order to minimize the repeated transmission
of data to the BS. The protocol achieves greater stability,
network lifetime and throughput as compared to the other
existing protocols. CHs election SEESH protocol is made very
even, which always keeps the elected CHs below 10 and helps
in minimizing the energy consumed by CHs.
SEESH can be further enhanced in terms of network lifetime
if the energy-harvesting scheme is brought into consideration.
The proposed protocol generates the required results and
hence can be termed as an energy efficient protocol for WSNs.
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