HYREP: A Hybrid Low-Power Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper, a new hybrid routing protocol is presented for low power Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). The new system uses an integrated piezoelectric energy harvester to increase the network lifetime. Power dissipation is one of the most important factors affecting the lifetime of a WSN. An innovative cluster head selection technique using Cuckoo optimization algorithm has been used in the designed protocol. The residual energy of the nodes and the distances to the sink were used in the threshold calculations, besides taking advantage of the relay node for communication. A hybrid method using the optimized routing protocol and the integrated energy harvester results in 100% increase in the network lifetime compared to recent clustering-based protocols. The simulations results using MATLAB indicate that energy consumption has been decreased by more than 40%.