Survey on Energy-Efficient and Energy-Balanced WSN Routing Protocols

Abstract

Wireless sensor network (WSN) is a network comprised of tiny sensor nodes. These sensors are characterized by limited memory, low processing capacity, limited power, and transmission bandwidth. The limited energy constraints inherent in WSNs have triggered an extensive research effort to develop Energy-efficient (EE) and Energy-balanced (EB) routing protocols to prolong the lifetime of the network. This study aims to investigate the overall research productivity and trends of the state-of-the-art research in energy-efficient and energy-balanced routing protocols designed for WSNs. The classification of energy-efficient and energy-balanced routing protocols is also a vital aim of this study. As a result, we conducted a selected relevant study with strict adherence to the pre-defined systematic mapping methodology to ensure unbiased inclusion of the relevant studies. This research provides great insight into
the focus of the research community, tools being used, and taxonomies of research conducted in EE and EB WSN protocols for the past decade. In the end, this article also provides a comprehensive discussion of the challenges and future directions.