Title: Hierarchical and on-demand wireless energy transfer protocol in sensor networks with multiple chargers

Authors: Vianney Kengne Tchendji; Loïch Kamdoum Deameni; Blaise Paho Nana

Addresses: Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon ' Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon ' Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the problem of efficient wireless power transfer (WPT) in wireless rechargeable sensor networks (WRSNs). In our approach, special entities (called chargers) replenish the energy of sensor nodes wirelessly. One of the main point of our approach is the on-demand recharge request. We propose two protocols based on a clustered structure, and on a hierarchical structure of the chargers, for an efficient charging of sensor nodes. To significantly increase the efficiency of the charge and reduce the displacement of the chargers, we have introduced two important concepts: neighbourhood and group of requests between the sensor nodes. Extensive simulations findings demonstrate significant performance gains, with respect to one of the best state of art charging methods of Madhja. In particular, our protocols improve several network properties and metrics, such as the network lifetime, coverage, routing and connectivity between the sensor nodes. A useful feature of our methods is that, they can be easily applied to 1D, 2D and 3D networks.

Keywords: wireless sensor networks; WSNs; wireless energy transfer; on-demand charging; wireless charger.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSNET.2019.101570

International Journal of Sensor Networks, 2019 Vol.31 No.1, pp.33 - 43

Received: 04 May 2019
Accepted: 21 May 2019
Published online: 12 Aug 2019 *

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