Hybrid routing and load balancing protocol for wireless sensor network

In wireless sensor network, when the nodes are mobile, the network structure keeps on changing dynamically, that is, new nodes enter the network and old members exit the network. As a result, the path from one node to the other varies from time to time. In addition, if the load on a particular part of the network is high, then the nodes will not be capable of transmitting the data. Thus, data delivery at the destination will be unsuccessful. Moreover, the part of the network involved in transmitting the data should not be overloaded. To overcome these issues, a hybrid routing protocol and load balancing technique is discussed in this paper for the mobile data collectors in which the path from source to destination is ensured before data transmission. The hybrid routing protocol that combines the reactive and proactive approach is used to enhance gradient based routing protocol for low power and lossy networks. This protocol can efficiently handle the movement of multiple sinks. Finally, load balancing is applied over the multiple mobile elements to balance the load of sensor nodes. Simulation results show that this protocol can increase the packet delivery ratio and residual energy with reduced delay and packet drop.