ECO-BAT: A New Routing Protocol for Energy Consumption Optimization Based on BAT Algorithm in WSN

Wireless sensor network (WSN) has been widely used due to its vast range of applications. The energy problem is one of the important problems influencing the complete application. Sensor nodes use very small batteries as a power source and replacing them is not an easy task. With this restriction, the sensor nodes must conserve their energy and extend the network lifetime as long as possible. Also, these limits motivate much of the research to suggest solutions in all layers of the protocol stack to save energy. So, energy management efficiency becomes a key requirement in WSN design. The efficiency of these networks is highly dependent on routing protocols directly affecting the network lifetime. Clustering is one of the most popular techniques preferred in routing operations. In this work we propose a novel energy-efficient protocol for WSN based on a bat algorithm called ECO-BAT (Energy Consumption Optimization with BAT algorithm for WSN) to prolong the network lifetime. We use an objective function that generates an optimal number of sensor clusters with cluster heads (CH) to minimize energy consumption. The performance of the proposed approach is compared with Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) and Energy Efficient cluster formation in wireless sensor networks based on the Multi-Objective Bat algorithm (EEMOB) protocols. The results obtained are interesting in terms of energy-saving and prolongation of the network lifetime.