A Clustering Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks Based on Energy Potential Field

It is the core issue of researching that how to prolong the lifetime of wireless sensor network. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate a clustering protocol LEACH-PF, which is a multihop routing algorithm with energy potential field of divided clusters. In LEACH-PF, the network is divided into a number of subnetworks and each subnetwork has a cluster head. These clusters construct an intercluster routing tree according to the potential difference of different equipotential fields. The other member nodes of the subnetworks communicate with their cluster head directly, so as to complete regional coverage. The results of simulation show that LEACH-PF can reduce energy consumption of the network effectively and prolong the network lifetime.