Multiple Relaying Protocols for Lifetime Extension in Two-Hop Wireless Networks

This paper proposes a novel relaying scheme that enhances network lifetime for two-hop wireless sensor networks (WSNs) by using multiple relaying protocols. Relaying is a spatial diversity technique which can achieve high energy-efficiency; hence it has become an attractive approach for lifetime extension in wireless networks. In this study, relay nodes are deployed either amplify-and-forward (AF) or decode-and-forward (DF) protocol between a source and a destination randomly. By estimating channel gain and residual energy of relay nodes, the source node can determine the best assistant relay to retransmit failure packets to the destination. As a result, relay nodes can keep the balance of energy dissipation and extending the network lifetime. Numerical evaluations show that the proposed scheme is fully effective in terms of the energy conservation for WSNs.