Abstract
In recent few years Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have seen an increased interest in various applications like border field security, disaster management and medical applications. So large number of sensor nodes are deployed for such applications, which can work autonomously. Due to small power batteries in WSNs, efficient utilization of battery power is an important factor. Clustering is an efficient technique to extend life time of sensor networks by reducing the energy consumption. In this paper, we propose a new protocol; Energy Consumption Rate based Stable Election Protocol (ECRSEP). Our CH selection scheme is based on the weighted election probabilities of each node according to the Energy Consumption Rate (ECR) of each node. We compare results of our proposed protocol with Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH), Distributed Energy Efficient Clustering (DEEC), Stable Election Protocol (SEP), and Enhanced SEP(ESEP). Our simulation results show that our proposed protocol, ECRSEP outperforms all these protocols in terms of network stability and network lifetime.