http://www.cs.bu.

edu/groups/wing
SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered
heterogeneous wireless sensor networks
Ibrahim Matta
Joint work with
Georgios Smaragdakis and Azer Bestavros
SANPA 2004
Second International Workshop on Sensor and Actuator Network Protocols and Applications
August 22, 2004
9/6/2004 I. Matta - SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered heterogeneous WSN 2
Heterogeneous WSN
o Nodes have different energy levels
o Initial setting, after some operation time, or
after re-energizing some sensors
9/6/2004 I. Matta - SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered heterogeneous WSN 3
Routing
o Goal:
prolong network lifetime/coverage
o Direct transmission to sink
o Min-energy routing
o Sensing process can become
biased
o LEACH Low Energy Adaptive
Clustering Hierarchy
[Heinzelman et al., 2000]
sink
Cluster-head node
9/6/2004 I. Matta - SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered heterogeneous WSN 4
Selecting Cluster-heads in LEACH
o Node i chooses random number, s, between 0 and 1
o If s < T(i), node i becomes a cluster head in current
round where:
where:
P = desired percentage of cluster heads
G = set of nodes that have not been a cluster head in the last 1/P rounds
o Each node is elected cluster-head once every 1/P
rounds (epoch length)
o On average, n x P nodes elected per round
n n = total number of nodes
{
=
?

G i if
) mod r ( P - 1
P
otherwise 0
P
1
) i ( T
9/6/2004 I. Matta - SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered heterogeneous WSN 5
Rotating Cluster-heads
Round r Round r + 1
When all nodes start with the same energy level (i.e., homogeneous setting),
nodes randomly die and within a short period
9/6/2004 I. Matta - SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered heterogeneous WSN 6
But in a heterogeneous environment
o The result of initial setting or evolution of the sensor
networks operation
n advanced node has times more energy than normal
node
o Once the first node dies, feedback and cluster-head
election stays unreliable for a long time
n advanced nodes dont get elected as often as they should
9/6/2004 I. Matta - SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered heterogeneous WSN 7
Nave Modification to LEACH
o View network as homogeneous
n Every virtual node is normal with unit energy
n We have n + X m x n = n (1+ X m) virtual nodes
o m = fraction of nodes that are advanced
o Extend epoch length to (1+ x m)/P rounds
o Hope is:
n Each normal node is elected cluster-head once every
epoch
n Each advanced node is elected cluster-head (1+)
times every epoch
o This ensures well balanced energy consumption
9/6/2004 I. Matta - SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered heterogeneous WSN 8
Problem with Nave Solution
o Probability of electing an advanced node is not
weighted by its additional energy
n advanced nodes may be underutilized
n Lifetime is prolonged, but time until the first node
dies can still be short!
5
1
P , 3 a ,
5
1
m , 5 n = = = =
A
N N N N
A node elected with probability
4 P - 1
P
) A ( T

=
N N
r=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
N N
9/6/2004 I. Matta - SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered heterogeneous WSN 9
Our SEP (Stable Election Protocol)
o Idea: force each advanced
node to be elected every
sub-epoch of length
(1+ x m)/P /(1+) rounds
o Probability of a normal node
getting elected as cluster-
head is P
normal
o Probability of an advanced
node getting elected as
cluster-head is P
advanced
o Average number of nodes
elected per round = nxP
{
=
+
=
?

normal
normal
P
1
normal
normal
G i if
) mod r ( P - 1
P
otherwise 0
normal
) i ( T
m a 1
P
P
{
=
+
+
=
?

advanced
advanced
P
1
advanced
advanced
G i if
) mod r ( P - 1
P
otherwise 0
advanced
) i ( T
) a 1 (
m a 1
P
P
9/6/2004 I. Matta - SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered heterogeneous WSN 10
Numerical Example
N N
A
5
1
P , 3 a ,
5
1
m , 5 n = = = =
N N
{
=
=
+
=
+
=
?

normal
normal
P
1
normal
normal
G i if
) mod r ( P - 1
P
otherwise 0
normal
) i ( T
8
1
5 / 1 3 1
5 / 1
m a 1
P
P
{
=
= + = +
+
=
?

advanced
advanced
P
1
advanced
advanced
G i if
) mod r ( P - 1
P
otherwise 0
advanced
) i ( T
8
4
) 3 1 (
8
1
) a 1 (
m a 1
P
P
N A
r=0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
N A N A N A
Our SEP Scheme
9/6/2004 I. Matta - SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered heterogeneous WSN 11
Performance Measures
o Stability Period
n Time until death of the first node
o Network lifetime
n Time until death of the last alive node
o Number of cluster-heads per round
n Nodes which will directly send aggregated
information to the sink
o Number of alive nodes of each type per round
o Throughput
n Rate of data reporting to cluster-heads and to sink
9/6/2004 I. Matta - SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered heterogeneous WSN 12
Simulation Model
o Two networks
n 100 nodes uniformly distributed over 100mx100m
n 900 nodes uniformly distributed over 300mx300m
o Sink is in the center of the sensor field
o Message size = 4000 bits
o Initial energy for a normal node = 0.5 Joules
o Energy consumed depends on radio
characteristics
9/6/2004 I. Matta - SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered heterogeneous WSN 13
Results for LEACH
o LEACH does not take
full advantage of the
extra energy of
advanced nodes
o Normal nodes die very
fast
n Sensing field becomes
sparse very fast
n Election process
becomes unstable fast
o Throughput is low
9/6/2004 I. Matta - SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered heterogeneous WSN 14
Results for LEACH (contd)
o Advanced nodes die
very slowly
n They are not elected
as often as they
should
o Throughput is low
9/6/2004 I. Matta - SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered heterogeneous WSN 15
Results for SEP
o SEP takes full advantage
of the extra energy of
advanced nodes
n Stable region increases by
up to 26% over LEACH
n Higher throughput
o Advanced nodes follow
the death process of
normal nodes
n Smaller unstable region
9/6/2004 I. Matta - SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered heterogeneous WSN 16
Sensitivity of SEP
o Performance depends on
the product m x
o FAIR: ideal distribution of
extra energy
o Gain in stability period
(over system with no extra
energy, i.e., m=0 & =0) is
maximized under SEP
n SEP > LEACH
n SEP > FAIR for up to 75%
relative extra energy
9/6/2004 I. Matta - SEP: A Stable Election Protocol for clustered heterogeneous WSN 17
Conclusion
o SEP is heterogeneous-aware
n Cluster-heads elected based on nodes energy relative to that of
others
o SEP is scalable and dynamic
n Even normal node can be elected
n No global knowledge required at every round
n No prior distribution of energy levels assumed
o Study SEP for more than 2 hierarchical levels and more than 2 types
of nodes
o Implementation in Berkeley/Crossbow motes
o Deployment issues
n Dynamic updates of weighted election probabilities
n Integration with power-aware MAC protocols
n
For more information, please check
http://csr.bu.edu/sep/