Node Role Selection and Rotation Scheme for Energy Efficiency in Multi-Level IoT-Based Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks (HWSNs)

The emergence of Internet of Things (IoT)-based heterogeneous wireless sensor network (HWSN) technology has become widespread, playing a significant role in the development of diverse human-centric applications. The role of efficient resource utilisation, particularly energy, becomes further critical in IoT-based HWSNs than it was in WSNs. Researchers have proposed numerous approaches to either increase the provisioned resources on network devices or to achieve efficient utilisation of these resources during network operations. The application of a vast proportion of such methods is either limited to homogeneous networks or to a single parameter and limited-level heterogeneity. In this work, we propose a multi-parameter and multi-level heterogeneity model along with a cluster-head rotation method that balances energy and maximizes lifetime. This method achieves up to a 57% increase in throughput to the base station, owing to improved intra-cluster communication in the IoT-based HWSN. Furthermore, for inter-cluster communication, a mathematical framework is proposed that first assesses whether the single-hop or multi-hop inter-cluster communication is more energy efficient, and then computes the region where the next energy-efficient hop should occur. Finally, a relay-role rotation method is proposed among the potential next-hop nodes. Results confirm that the proposed methods achieve 57.44%, 51.75%, and 17.63% increase in throughput of the IoT-based HWSN as compared to RLEACH, CRPFCM, and EERPMS, respectively.