C3: An energy-efficient protocol for coverage, connectivity and communication in WSNs

The lower layer of ubiquitous and pervasive systems consists of wireless ad hoc and sensor networks. In wireless sensor networks (WSNs), sensors consume most of their energy in data transmission and idle listening. Hence, efficient usage of energy can be ensured by improved protocols for topology control (i.e., coverage and connectivity), sleep scheduling, communication, and aggregation and compression of data. Though several protocols have been proposed for this purpose, they are not energy-efficient. We propose an integrated and energy-efficient protocol for Coverage, Connectivity, and Communication (C3) in WSNs. The C3 protocol uses received signal strength indicator to divide the network into virtual rings, defines clusters with clusterheads more probably at alternating rings, defines dings that are rings inside a cluster and uses triangular tessellation to identify redundant nodes, and communicates data to sink through clusterheads and gateways. The proposed protocol strives for near-optimal deployment, load balancing, and energy-efficient communication. Simulation results show that the C3 protocol ensures partial coverage of more than 90 % of the total deployment area, ensures one connected network, and facilitates energy-efficient communication while expending only one-fourth of the energy compared to other related protocols such as the coverage and connectivity protocol, and the layered diffusion-based coverage control.