Yao et al.

EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking

(2020) 2020:131
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13638-020-01748-8

RESEARCH Open Access

Simplified clustering and improved

intercluster cooperation approach for
wireless sensor network energy balanced
routing
Yanxin Yao1, Wei Chen2,3,4* , Jie Guo1, Xiaoyu He1 and Ruixuan Li1

* Correspondence: chenwdavior@
163.com Abstract
2
School of Computer Science and
Technology, China University of The equilibrium use of energy is very important for wireless sensor networks (WSN)
Mining Technology, Xuzhou 221116, with limited energy in order to avoid premature network collapse. The existing
Jiangsu, China methods either need too complex calculations for precise clustering, or are too
3
Mine Digitization Engineering
Research Center of the Ministry of simple to overburden a few cluster heads. In order to solve these problems, we
Education, China University of proposed energy balanced clustering routing (EBCR) in this paper. It could maximize
Mining and Technology, Xuzhou the WSN life in energy non-harvesting scenario or improve energy utilization
221116, Jiangsu, China
Full list of author information is efficiency in energy harvesting scenario without increasing the amount of
available at the end of the article calculations. It gives a complete solution to the process of cluster head election,
clustering, and intercluster routing algorithm. Firstly, a light weight cluster head
election and a distributed cluttering method are proposed by introducing dynamic
cluster radius and intersection region node division schemes with new principles.
Thus, lightweight distributed clustering achieves the advantages of balancing the
burden of cluster heads and alleviating hot zone problem. Then we optimized the
cluster cooperative routing algorithm by analyzing cooperation and competition
among cluster heads. The intercluster cooperative routing algorithm greatly
improves the transmission efficiency between cluster heads. Moreover, this paper
analyzes the reasons why the algorithm achieves more balanced energy usage,
higher energy efficiency, and fewer calculations compared to the existing
mainstream algorithms. At last, simulation results show that EBCR algorithm has
advantages in terms of network energy consumption, number of surviving nodes in
energy non-harvesting scenario compared with the delay-constrained energy-
efficient cluster-based multi-hop routing (DCEM) method. Simulation also gives EBCR
algorithm performance under various energy harvesting scenarios, which is quite
satisfactory in energy utilization efficiency comparing with DCEM method. EBCR
algorithm has superior performance in terms of balanced energy usage, low
computation complexity, and high energy efficiency.
Keywords: WSN, Clustered routing, Hot zone, Clustering, Cluster head selection,
Relay selection

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Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 2 of 33

1 Introduction
The WSN consists of a large number of inexpensive micro sensor nodes deployed
in the monitoring area, and forms a self-organizing network system through wire-
less communication. The purpose of the WSN is to cooperatively sense, collect,
and process the information of the sensing objects in the monitoring area, and
send them to the observer. The biggest drawback of WSN is that the node energy
is limited, and resources such as storage space and computing power are also very
limited. With limited hardware resource, large-scale data collection can easily cause
excessive energy consumption of nodes. If the node energy decays too quickly and
the number of exhausted nodes is too high, network congestion will increase unre-
liable data transmission in the WSN [1]. Therefore, designing an energy-efficient
network protocol to balance the nodes’ energy usage and maximize network life-
time has always been the research focus of WSN. Because long distance transmis-
sion cost lots of energy, multi-hop transmission is a better solution under limited
energy condition. According to the different topology structures, the routing proto-
cols of WSN can be divided into planar routing protocols and hierarchical routing
protocols [2, 3]. In planar routing protocol, the status of the network nodes is
equal, but the application is limited due to the poor scalability and small network
size. For a network of large size, each node directly transmitting information to
the Sink node will cause too poor network scalability, too large energy consump-
tion, and too heavy control load of the Sink node. In order to avoid these prob-
lems, WSN is often managed as a hierarchical network. Clustered routing
protocols are able to manage a larger area without reducing the quality of service
[4–7]. So it has been widely used due to their excellent performance in scalability,
fault tolerance, and energy saving. In order to avoid the loss of network connectiv-
ity and premature network collapse due to the excessive exploiting of individual
nodes, balanced energy clustering routing protocol needs to be studied under the
premise that each node can transmit its own data to the Sink node [8]. When the
energy of the nodes in the sensor network can be supplemented, an energy har-
vesting sensor network is formed. In order to make the energy efficiency of the
network as high as possible [9, 10], simplify the routing maintenance cost and re-
duce the cluster update rate; it is also necessary to make the energy consumption
of the sensor nodes as balanced as possible [11]. This paper focuses on energy-
balanced clustering routing schemes. The delay-constrained energy-efficient cluster-
based multi-hop routing (DCEM) algorithm [12] is analyzed in detail and the prob-
lems appearing are the motivation for this research. Considering design steps of
cluster head election, clustering, and inter-cluster routing algorithm, a new
complete solution is proposed in this paper. Without increasing the amount of cal-
culations, it has achieved longer network life or higher energy efficiency than the
existing algorithms. In this paper, a new method called energy balanced cluster
and routing (EBCR) is proposed to solve the energy balance clustering routing
problem. The major contributions of this research are as follows:

1 A complete energy balance clustering routing scheme is proposed, which can

maximize the WSN life of non-energy collection scenarios or increase the
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 3 of 33

energy utilization of energy collection scenarios without increasing the amount

of calculation.
2 By introducing a dynamic clustering radius with a new principle and a node
division scheme for crossing regions, a lightweight clustering head election and
distributed clustering method is proposed. The overall advantages of this
distributed clustering method are lightweight distributed clustering, balancing the
burden of cluster heads, and alleviating hot zone issues.
3 An optimized inter-cluster cooperative routing algorithm is proposed. It gives a
complete consideration for the relay cooperation principle, and the cooperative
competition relationship among cluster heads, which greatly improves the trans-
mission efficiency between cluster heads.
4 This paper analyzes the reasons why the algorithm achieves more balanced energy
usage, higher energy efficiency, and smaller calculations compared with the
existing mainstream algorithms.
5 Simulation results show that EBCR algorithm performs better in terms of network
energy consumption, has more nodes survived, and cost less energy compared to
DCEM.

The paper is organized as follows: In Section 2, The WSN cluster and routing
method is divided into two categories for review: uniform clustering and non-uniform
clustering. It also summarizes the motives, schemes, and advantages of the proposed
method. In Section 3, this part deals with the network and energy model. In Section 4,
we describe the problems existing in DCEM algorithm in aspects of cluster head elec-
tion, clustering and inter-cluster routing mechanism. In Section 5, we propose EBCR
method and points out its merits compared with the existing methods. In Section 6,
simulations are performed to compare EBCR method and DCEM method. In Section7,
we conclude the paper.

2 Related work
In WSN, the main characteristics of clustering routing protocols lie in the aspects
of cluster head election, clustering, and inter-cluster routing. The clustering routing
protocol is mainly divided into uniform clustering algorithm and non-uniform clus-
tering algorithm according to the clustering radius. It will be described
hierarchically.

2.1 Uniform clustering algorithm

We discussed about cluster head election and clustering mode regarding uniform clus-
tering algorithm.

2.1.1 Cluster head election

In the WSN, the cluster head election mechanism of the uniform clustering algo-
rithm mainly includes the following types. Low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy
(LEACH) [13] and threshold-sensitive energy-efficient sensor network protocol
(TEEN) [14] algorithm randomly select their cluster heads. The node randomly
generates 0–1 random numbers. If it is greater than a threshold, it can become a
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 4 of 33

cluster head. The threshold is calculated by the cluster head election probability
and the current running round number of the network. The disadvantage of this
method is that the cluster head selection is completely random, and it cannot
guarantee the selected nodes are suitable. The cluster head selection of LEACH-C
[15] algorithm is not random, but entirely controlled by the Sink node. By collect-
ing the global node location and energy information, the Sink node calculates the
mean energy in the network, clusters, and selects cluster heads for each cluster
using the simulated annealing algorithm. The disadvantage is that it is only suitable
for small-scale systems. Large-scale network flooding will lead to a lot of energy
consumption and even network congestion. The cluster head selection of hybrid
energy-efficient distributed clustering (HEED) [16] algorithm is based on the re-
sidual energy, the density of the nodes, and the proximity to its neighbor nodes.
The cluster head is determined through multiple iterations, consuming a lot of en-
ergy by cyclic iteration. The delay-constrained energy multi-hop (DCEM) [5] algo-
rithm proposed in 2016 is a high energy efficiency clustering multi-hop routing
algorithm based on time constraints. The cluster head is selected in a distributed
way according to the relative energy and distance information of the node. It has
advantages in energy consumption and the number of surviving nodes compared
with the classical algorithms, such as LEACH, HEED, and other algorithms [17]. A
particle swarm optimization based energy-efficient cluster head selection (PSO-
ECHS) algorithm selects the cluster head among the nodes that exceed the average
residual energy, based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) according to the loca-
tion and energy information of all node s[18].

2.1.2 Uniform clustering mode

In the clustering way of HEED algorithm, a node decides which cluster to join ac-
cording to the average reachable energy of average minimum reachability power
(AMRP) carried in the received cluster head message. This solves the problem of
which cluster a node eventually joins when covered by multiple cluster heads at
the same time. Nodes that do not receive the cluster header message identify
themselves as “isolated nodes” and declare themselves as cluster heads. The disad-
vantage is that isolated nodes will be generated, and the distance factor from the
neighbor node to the cluster head node is not considered. Moreover, large clusters
will easily cause some nodes to die too quickly, thus affecting the stability of the
network. Although DCEM algorithm is superior to classical algorithms such as
LEACH, HEED, etc., in terms of energy consumption and number of surviving
nodes. The DCEM clustering method has the shortcomings: as long as the node is
within the communication distance of the dominant node, the dominant node is
used as its cluster head, causing the dominant node in a certain area to occupy
the entire area. The dominant node will quickly fail, requiring frequent replace-
ment of clusters. If the update time is slightly slower than the failure time, the
cluster information will be lost. In the clustering method of PSO-ECHS, the non-
cluster head node calculates the weight function of the cluster head, which takes
into account the energy, distance, and node degree of the cluster head, and
chooses the cluster with the maximum weight of the cluster head.
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 5 of 33

2.1.3 Non-uniform clustering algorithm

The above algorithms are all uniform clustering algorithms, which divide the net-
work into multiple clusters of similar size, where the numbers of members in clus-
ters is almost the same due to the uniform distribution of nodes. Because the
cluster head nodes close to the Sink node need to forward data from other clus-
ters, they will exhaust their energy too early and fail into the dormant state, caus-
ing network segmentation and reducing the network survival time. The researchers
call this a “hot zone” problem. In order to solve the “hot zone” problem, non-
uniform clustering methods came into being. The representative non-uniform clus-
tering algorithms are energy-efficient non-uniform clustering (EEUC) algorithm [19,
20], unequal clustering algorithm for WSN based on fuzzy logic and improved
ACO (UCFIA) algorithm [21], and uneven clustering dynamic routing based on en-
ergy efficiency and balanced (UDEB) algorithm [22]. EEUC algorithm is an energy-
efficient non-uniform clustering algorithm. In each clustering period, the node first
randomly selects the candidate cluster head according to probability T, and then
selects the cluster head according to the residual energy in the candidate cluster
head. In order to construct a non-uniform cluster, EEUC algorithm proposes a
clustering competition radius related to the node position. The closer the node is
to the Sink node, the smaller is the clustering radius. However, due to the diffi-
culty of selecting the parameter of the EEUC algorithm for controlling the compe-
tition radius, the performance is restricted. During the election course, if a
candidate cluster head Si announces its election victory, all the candidate cluster
heads within ’s competition radius cannot become the final cluster head and need
to withdraw from the election process. When the candidate cluster head node
competes, each candidate cluster head broadcasts a message to announce whether
it is successful and at the same time receives such messages sent by the neighbor-
ing candidate cluster head nodes. This negotiation mechanism to determine the
cluster head requires broadcasting a large number of messages, consuming a lot of
energy. In the inter-cluster routing stage, each cluster head selects a cluster head
with more residual energy as the next hop relay node, in each round of multi-hop
link selection, and does not consider whether it is beneficial to save energy. More-
over, in the stable transmission phase of the EEUC algorithm, each cluster head
will transmit data according to a fixed link. This will cause the nodes on the link
to consume too much energy and a rapid death [19, 20]. UCFIA algorithm is a dis-
tributed self-organizing clustering algorithm. In the cluster head election, UCFIA
algorithm uses local information such as the residual energy of the node, the dis-
tance from the Sink node, and density as the reference index for the cluster head
election and cluster competition radius, and constructs the non-uniform cluster
using the fuzzy theory model. In the data transmission phase, multi-hop routing is
selected using an adaptive max-min ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm. The
UCFIA algorithm uses fuzzy theory and ACO to construct an energy-efficient
WSN, which simplifies the clustering difficulty. However, many parameters in the
UCFIA algorithm, such as the maximum local density and the maximum competi-
tion radius, are not optimal and can be further improved. These parameters can be
further optimized to improve the performance of the network [21]. UDEB is a
non-uniform clustering algorithm for dynamic routing. The algorithm takes the
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 6 of 33

Sink node as the center and divides the network from inside to outside into con-
centric circles with uniformly spacing. The interval between the rings is equal.
Through the energy consumption analysis of the single-hop routing model and the
multi-hop routing model, when the ring spacing is within the critical distance of
the network, the nodes between the rings can perform multi-hop communication,
and the nodes in a ring perform single-hop communication to reduce unnecessary
energy consumption. The UDEB algorithm calculates the energy consumption of
the whole network theoretically, determines the optimal number of cluster heads
in each ring, calculates the cluster head’s competition radius according to the opti-
mal number of cluster heads, and guarantees a cluster head in each area in the
network. The cluster heads will be elected. The UDEB algorithm considers the en-
ergy cost and the residual energy comprehensively when choosing the routing, and
gives the routing probability in a weighted manner, which simplifies the complexity
of the algorithm. UDEB algorithm solves the problem of energy hole by construct-
ing a non-uniform clustering network of sub-rings.
However, the cluster head node uses two weights when choosing the routing, does not
study these two parameters quantitatively, which restricts the improvement of the life
cycle of WSNs [22]. In summary, the clustering methods such as distributed clustering of
DCEM and EEUC are comparatively more advantageous, because of the small amount of
computation in the energy-efficient clustering and multi-hop routing algorithms. Non-
uniform clustering methods such as UCFIA and UDEB requiring globally centralized cal-
culations are effective, but the amount of calculation is large [23–25]. The selection of
inter-cluster multi-hop routing adopted by DCEM is based on minimizing energy con-
sumption, which can lead to uneven energy consumption of nodes in the network [26–28].

2.2 A better solution

The paper mainly studies the distributed clustering method. A distributed clustering
routing is proposed in this paper with a clustering method which combines a greatly
simplified cluster head selection, dynamic cluster radius, cross-regional division, and an
optimized routing scheme for inter-cluster cooperative communication. In the cluster
head selection, nodes with high residual energy (supply energy) are directly selected as
cluster head nodes, which could be performed distributedly, and the entire network
coverage can be quickly realized without calculating and determining the optimal clus-
ter head number. Because only the energy of the node is considered without consider-
ing information such as the location and density of the node, it is less affected by
external changes and suitable for large-scale and dynamically changing networks. The
clustering method in this paper contains a dynamic cluster radius and division of nodes
in the intersection region scheme. The dynamic cluster radius scheme adopts a mech-
anism that a larger node energy and greater distance from the sink node corresponds
to a larger cluster radius, so as to alleviate the hot zone problem. Based on the selected
cluster head and cluster radius, the intended responsible area of the cluster head is
formed. Due to simplified cluster head and cluster radius election methods, the number
of cluster heads may be relatively large, and cluster heads may be relatively dense in
local areas. To solve this problem, intersection region node division and intercluster co-
operative routing algorithms are proposed. For the intersection regions covered by
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 7 of 33

multiple cluster heads, the cluster division principle is derived, which not only con-
siders the energy factor but also considers the distance factor. The advantages are light-
weight distributed clustering, balancing the burden of cluster heads and alleviating hot
zone issues. In order to avoid the direct information transmission from each cluster
head to the Sink node resulting in excessive energy consumption, a more effective in-
tercluster communication collaboration scheme is adopted in this paper. Intercluster
cooperation can only be used when it is beneficial to energy saving. The principle of co-
operation among cluster heads is derived in this paper. It not only gives out when co-
operation is beneficial but also considers the cooperative competition relationship
among cluster heads. Thus, a complete intercluster routing multi-hop algorithm is de-
signed, which is simpler, more energy efficient, and more balanced in energy consump-
tion compared to DCEM’s minimal energy path search method. Compared with the
EEUC intercluster routing algorithm, the burden of the next hop candidate node is
more reasonably analyzed and only the next hop node that is beneficial to energy sav-
ing is selected. No fixed routing is taken, so the energy of the cluster head is more bal-
anced and energy efficient. The intercluster routing multi-hop algorithm, along with
the simplified cluster head election and cluster intersecting area division methods to-
gether solves the problem of transmission efficiency when the cluster heads are densely
distributed. As a whole, this method can achieve more balanced energy consumption
compared to distributed clustering methods such as DCEM and EEUC, effectively redu-
cing cluster head failure probability, greatly improving cluster update time, reducing
clusters maintenance costs, and overcoming the disadvantages of the UCFIA and UDEB
non-uniform clustering methods that require a lot of centralized calculations.

3 Network and energy model

3.1 Network model
A group of wireless sensor nodes randomly distributed in the area are considered. The
hierarchical network model is shown in Fig. 1 set as follows:

Fig. 1 Hierarchical network model

Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 8 of 33

1 The WSN includes nodes acting as three kinds of nodes, namely Sink node, cluster
head node, and cluster member node.
2 Node location is fixed during network operation.
3 The energy of the Sink node is unlimited and the communication range covers the
entire network.
4 Other nodes could have energy supplement from environment. Each node can
obtain its own location information and remaining energy information, and can
adjust the transmission power according to the transmission distance.
5 The node can calculate the distance from the sending node based on the signal
strength contained in the received information.
6 The cluster head nodes aggregate the data of the nodes in the cluster and transmit
the integrated data to the Sink node through multiple hops.
7 The data sensed by the node is related, so the cluster head node can merge the
collected information to reduce the total sent data.

3.2 Wireless channel model

In the wireless channel, the power of the electromagnetic wave weakens as the distance
between the receiver and the transmitter increases. The energy consumed by a wireless
sensor node to send and receive l bit information can be represented as ERx and ETx,
respectively.


l  E elec þ l  εfs  d 2 ; d < d 0
E Tx ðl; d Þ ¼ ð1Þ
l  E elec þ l  εamp  d 4 ; d ≥ d 0

E Rx ðl; d Þ ¼ l  E elec ð2Þ

where Eelec is the circuit energy loss coefficient for sending and receiving unit bit in-
formation. If the transmission distance is less than the threshold d0, power amplifier
losses use a free-space model. Otherwise, the attenuation model is used. εfs and εamp
are the required energy for each bit of information sending by the amplifier in the two
models, respectively. The smaller the d0 is, the greater the probability of using the mul-
tipath attenuation model is, leading a greater the energy consumed and shorter the net-
work lifetime. Commonly used constant values are as follows:
   
d 0 ¼ 60 m; E elec ¼ 50nJ=bit; εfs ¼ 10pJ= bit  m2 ; εamp ¼ 0:0013pJ= bit  m4 :

3.3 Energy consumption calculation

Because the nodes in the cluster only need to send the collected data to the cluster
head node, the energy consumption of the member nodes in each cluster is:

E mem ð jÞ ¼ l  E elec þ l  εfs  d 2 ð jÞ ð3Þ

where d(j) is the distance between the member node j in the cluster and its cluster
head node. Because the cluster head node needs to merge the data of all nodes in the
cluster, and then transmits the integrated data. The energy consumption of each cluster
head node is:
E CH ðiÞ ¼ E R ðiÞ þ E F ðiÞ þ E Tx ðiÞ ð4Þ
E R ðiÞ ¼ l  E elec  NumCH ðiÞ ð5Þ
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 9 of 33

E F ðiÞ ¼ l  E fuse  NumCH ðiÞ ð6Þ

In the above formula, ER(i) is the energy consumed by the cluster head node i to col-
lect the data of all nodes in the cluster. EF(i) is the energy consumed by the cluster
head node i for data fusion of the collected node data in the cluster. NumCH(i) is the
number of nodes in the cluster that belong to cluster head node i. ETx(i) is the energy
consumption of the cluster head node i to transmit l bit data to other cluster head
nodes or sink node, calculated by (1). The constantEfuse = 5nJ/bit.

3.4 Energy harvesting model

Assume that all wireless sensor nodes are equipped with energy harvesting devices,
such as solar panels. The available energy may be momentarily different on a single
node. At the same time, there may be variations in harvested energy for different nodes.
We assume that each node has a separate energy harvesting rate. The harvested energy
is stored in a storage device, ES, i represents the stored energy, and EM, i represents the
maximum battery capacity. Considering the main energy cost, the energy model of EH-
WSN for node i is

8  
< min E i ðτ−1Þ þ P EH;i ðτ−1Þ; E M;i −E mem ðiÞ; iis a member node in a cluster
E i ðτ Þ ¼  
: min E i ðτ−1Þ þ P EH;i ðτ−1Þ; E M;i −E CH ðiÞ; i is a cluster head node

ð7Þ

Here, a discrete-time system is considered in each sensor node. At the end of each
time slot τ, Ei(τ) represents the remaining energy of node i. Ei(τ − 1) represents the re-
sidual energy of node i at the end of the last time slot. At the beginning of each time
interval τ, node i receives the energy supplement accumulated in the previous time slot,
expressed as PEH, i(τ − 1). At any time, the maximum energy at node i is not allowed to
exceed EM, i. Each node should keep Ei(τ) > 0; otherwise, the node fails until it has har-
vested enough energy to start again.

4 Previous method-DCEM algorithm

The DCEM algorithm proposed in 2016 is an energy-efficient clustering multi-hop
routing algorithm with time constraint. Because the algorithm selects the cluster heads
in a distributed way according to the relative energy and distance information of the
nodes, it is superior to classical algorithms such as LEACH, HEED, etc. in terms of en-
ergy consumption, the number of surviving nodes, and so on. The DCEM clustering
method has the following problems: as long as the node is within the communication
distance of the dominant node, the dominant node is used as the cluster head, causing
the dominant node in a certain area to occupy the entire area, and the dominant node
will quickly fail, requiring frequent replacement of clusters. If the update time is slightly
slower than the failure time, the cluster information will be lost. Intercluster routing in
DCEM uses minimal energy consumption routing. The specific algorithm is described
as follows.
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 10 of 33

4.1 Algorithm description

The clustering method in DCEM algorithm is as follows. (1) The sink node broadcasts
ADV information with a certain power and starts the neighbor node discovery process.
(2) Each node calculates the distance to the Sink node based on the strength of the re-
ceived signal. (3) Each node has a timer and each node waits, and then starts sending
ADV (ID, E) information to the neighbor nodes. ID is the node number, and E is the
remaining energy of the node. Each node compares the energy in itself and the ADV
information. If the energy of the node is low, the timer is turned off. This node is a
member node that belongs to the cluster head with higher energy. In this way, a node
with large energy first sends out information, and a node with smaller energy receives
the information from a large energy node and automatically becomes a member node
in the cluster. (4) The cluster head candidate node is either a node that has transmitted
ADV information but does not receive ADV information of other nodes because dis-
tance is too far away, or a node which has sent ADV information, and has received
ADV information of other nodes, and has higher energy. When two cluster head candi-
date nodes have the same energy and can communicate, the node nearer to the sink
node is selected. Each candidate cluster head node wait time is:

1
w¼ ð8Þ
TEDi
 α  β
Ei 1
TEDi ¼ þ ð9Þ
E total d ði;sÞ

where TEDi is the energy and delay equalization factor of the candidate cluster head
node i. Ei is the remaining energy of the candidate cluster head node i. Etotal is the sum
of energy of other candidate cluster head nodes in the received ADV information. d(i, s)
is the distance from the cluster head candidate node’s i to the Sink node. It can be seen
that the node’s waiting time is shorter for a node with larger energy and smaller dis-
tance from the Sink node. The node earlier sends out the information that it is cluster
head nodes, and the candidate cluster head nodes that receive this information be-
comes member nodes in the cluster. The disadvantage of this method is that as long as
a node is within the communication distance of the most dominant node, it becomes a
member node. This makes the dominant node in a certain area occupy the entire area.
That is, in the area where the clusters intersect, the intersection area is assigned to the
cluster head node with the largest energy. This will lead to many problems, as indicated
in Section 4.2. In terms of intercluster routing, DCEM selects the multi-hop routing
with the least total energy consumption and does not consider energy balance.

4.2 Problem description

The clustering method of DCEM will cause many problems. When large energy nodes
with small energy gap are near enough, the node with relatively smaller energy will not
be selected as cluster head and the energy will be wasted until clusters are updated.
Two examples are given to explain the problem. As shown in situation 1 in Fig. 2, it is
assumed that the ADV information of node A is (ID = A, E = 10) and the ADV infor-
mation of node B is (ID = B, E = 9). According to the DCEM, since the energy of node
A is higher than the energy of node B; node A is a cluster head, and B is the node in
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 11 of 33

Fig. 2 Situation 1 for DCEM problem

the cluster. The intersecting area is completely divided to node A. The energy differ-
ence between node A and node B is not significant, but it is obvious that the load of
node A is much greater than that of node B. The energy of node A will quickly deplete,
leading to a frequent replacement of cluster heads. If the update time is slightly slower
than the failure time, it will lose this cluster information. As shown in situation 2 in
Fig. 3, it is assumed that the ADV information of nodes A, B, and C is (ID = A, E =
10), (ID = B, E = 9), (ID = C, E = 5). Node A and node C are cluster heads of two clus-
ters, and node B is in the intersecting area. According to the DCEM algorithm, since
the energy of node A is higher than that of node C, the intersecting area is owned by
node A. Although node B has a higher load capacity than node C because of its higher
energy, node B cannot be a cluster head and its energy is wasted or only able to fully
be utilized when clusters are updated. In order to solve the above problems, a new clus-
ter routing scheme is proposed.

5 Proposed method-EBCR algorithm

In this paper, a new clustering routing algorithm EBCR is proposed, with low complex-
ity cluster head election and distributed clustering scheme to cover the entire network
more simply and quickly. An optimized intercluster routing scheme and the intersec-
tion region node division are proposed in order to solve the problem that cluster heads
may be densely distributed in the method.

5.1 Cluster head selection

When the network is initialized, the Sink node collects the ID information, location in-
formation, residual energy information, and energy harvesting rate of the entire net-
work nodes and stores them, and then updates the residual energy of the nodes. The

Fig. 3 Situation 2 for DCEM problem

Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 12 of 33

Sink node sorts all nodes in descending order of energy. Take the first 10% of the nodes
as cluster heads and search for the nearby nodes with radius rch to form clusters. If the
entire area cannot achieve full coverage, for the remaining unclustered nodes, take the
nodes whose energy is the top αhead = 10% as the cluster heads, and search for the
nearby nodes with radius rch to form clusters. This loop iterates until the entire area
can be fully covered. In the cluster head selection, nodes with relatively high residual
energy (supply energy) are directly selected as cluster head nodes. The advantage lies in
that the entire network coverage can be quickly realized distributedly without calculat-
ing and determining the optimal cluster head number, along with the distributed clus-
tering method. Because only the energy is considered, without considering information
such as the location and density of the node, it is suitable for large-scale and dynamic-
ally changing networks. It is more rational compared to the random selection of cluster
heads in EEUC method, and has lower computation compared to those requiring com-
plicated calculations.

5.2 Dynamic cluster radius

The network is divided into multiple clusters of similar size. Due to the uniform distri-
bution of nodes, the number of members in the cluster is also approximately the same.
The cluster head nodes close to the Sink node need to forward data from other clus-
ters, causing them in overload state, and leading to network segmentation and shorter
network survival time. The researchers call this “hot zone” problem. In order to solve
the “hot zone” problem, non-uniform clustering of dynamic cluster radius is considered
in this paper. According to the principle that larger node energy and greater distance
from the sink node corresponds to a larger search radiusrch, the search radius rch is

 
d i sink min E i ðτ−1Þ þ P EH;i ðτ−1Þ; E M;i
r ch ¼ α1 þ β1  α3  d 0 ð10Þ
d max E M;i

α1 þ β1 ¼ 1 ð11Þ

where di _ sin k is the distance from any cluster head node i to the sink. dmaxis the far-
thest distance from the selected cluster head nodes to the sink. Ei(τ − 1) is the residual
energy of the cluster head node i at the end of the previous time interval τas shown in
(7). At the beginning of the time interval τ, node i checks the energy harvested in the
previous time slot denoted as PEH, i(τ − 1). EM, i is the maximum battery capacity. At
any time, the maximum energy at node i cannot exceed EM, i. d0 is the transmission
threshold in the wireless channel model. α1, β1, and α3 are parameters controlling clus-
ter radius.

5.3 Node division in intersecting regions

The intended responsible area of the cluster head is formed according to the cluster
head and cluster radius. Due to simplified cluster head and cluster radius election
methods, the number of cluster heads may be relatively large, and cluster heads may be
relatively dense in local areas. For the nodes located in the intersecting region of the
clusters, distance from the cluster head node, the remaining energy of the cluster head,
the energy absorption rate, and the distance of the cluster head from the sink should
be considered when clustering. The cluster head node close to the sink node is
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 13 of 33

overloaded because it needs to forward data from other clusters. In Fig. 4, the distance
from the cluster head node i1(i2) and the sink node is smaller than certain threshold,
and the distance from the cluster head node j1 and the sink node is smaller than certain
threshold. In order to avoid “hot region” problem, nodes in the intersecting regions of
cluster head nodes i1 and j1 are assigned to cluster head j1. The nodes in the intersect-
ing regions of cluster head nodes of i1 and i2 are assigned to be the intra-cluster mem-
ber nodes of the cluster head node with a large f which is calculated as follows:
  β
f m j ¼ α2 min E j ðτ−1Þ þ P EH; j ðτ−1Þ; E M; j þ 2 ð12Þ
dm j

where fm _ j represents the fitness value of the node m in the intersection region to the
cluster head j. Ej(τ − 1) denotes the residual energy of the cluster head j at the end of
the previous time interval τ as shown in (7). The supplementary energy accumulated by
the node j in the previous time slot τ is PEH, j(τ − 1). EM, j is the battery capacity. The
energy of node j cannot exceed EM, j at any time. dm _ j represents the distance from the
node m in the intersection region to the cluster head j. α2, and β2 are weights that can
be adjusted as needed. Another situation is shown in Fig. 5, when the distance from the
cluster heads i1, i2, j1 to the sink node are all larger than threshold, the nodes in the
intersecting area of these nodes compute their fvalue respectively, and the nodes in the
intersecting area become the intra-cluster members of the cluster head node with the
largest fvalue.
Remark 1 The EBCR algorithm reduces the burden on cluster heads and helps to
avoid excessive consumption of cluster heads in hotspots, alleviating hot zone problems.
The clustering method of DECR combining the methods of cluster head, dynamic
cluster radius, and division of intersection regions solves the clustering problems of
DCEM, in Figs. 2 and 3. In Fig. 2, energy of both A and B are relatively high and
the energy difference is not large. The clustering method in DCEM makes the
node with the larger energy in A and B become the cluster head, responsible for
all the nodes within the cluster radius. The workload of cluster head nodes is
large, leading to frequent replacement of cluster heads. The method proposed by
us takes both nodes A and B as cluster heads. Because the energy difference be-
tween A and B is not large, the intersecting parts are mainly divided according to
distance. The workload of cluster head nodes is obviously reduced, and cluster

Fig. 4 Node division situation 1

Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 14 of 33

Fig. 5 Node division situation 2

heads do not need to be replaced frequently. As shown in situation 2 in Fig. 3,

DCEM clustering method wasted more energy in node B. According to our
method, node B becomes a cluster head. This not only does not waste node B but
also reduces the workload of nodes A and C. In summary, our proposed non-
uniform clustering method better utilizes the nodes with relatively larger energy
and allows the division of intersecting regions. It avoids a dominant node takes
over all the nodes in its communication area. This could balance the burden on
cluster heads and help to avoid excessive consumption of cluster heads in hotspots
and thus alleviate “hot zone” problems. The above analysis shows that the EBCR
clustering method is better than to DCEM. The clustering radius inherits consider-
ing the distance between the node and the Sink node from the EEUC. In addition,
the energy of the cluster head is considered, which is more beneficial to energy
balance. The clustering competition radius also has a clear selection basis. It is
more beneficial to balance energy for its exploiting the relatively high energy
nodes, instead of the EEUC clustering rule that does not allow cluster heads to ap-
pear within the competition radius of the selected cluster head. In addition, it
avoids transmitting message to compete for cluster head node that EEUS needed
and therefore saves a lot of energy. In the EBCR method, cluster head selection,
clustering radius, and clustering methods are performed in a distributed, light-
weight manner. The amount of calculation is much lower than the PSO-ECHS
method based on particle swarm optimization. Because the consideration premise
is that the wireless sensor nodes are distributed evenly, the factor of node density
is not taken into consideration. So there is no complicated global calculation com-
pared with UCFIA. Compared with UDEB, there is no theoretical calculation for
energy consumption of the entire network to determine the optimal number of
cluster heads in each ring, so the amount of calculation is low.

5.4 Relay communication analysis

Theorem 1. When d 21 þ d 22 < d 2 , relay cooperation is beneficial for energy saving. d1 is
the distance from the source node to the cooperating node, d2 is the distance from the
cooperating node to the destination node, and d is the distance from the node to the
destination node.
Proof: With an ideal omnidirectional antenna, the free space loss is:
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 15 of 33

P t ð4πd Þ2 ð4πfd Þ2
L¼ ¼ ¼ ð13Þ
Pr λ2 c2

where Pt is the signal power of the transmitting antenna, Pr is the signal power of re-
ceiving antenna, λ is the carrier wavelength, d is the propagation distance between the
antennas, and c is the speed of light. First, the favorable conditions for relaying will be
analyzed under the simplified condition when the relay cluster head and the source
data cluster head are responsible for the same amount of transmission data. As shown
in Fig. 6, if the cluster heads A and B collect l bits data respectively and the total
amount of data is 2l bits. Then

d 22 ¼ d 21 þ d 2 −2d 1 d cosa ð14Þ

LAC ¼ l  ð4πd=λÞ2 ð15Þ

LBC ¼ l  ð4πd 2 =λÞ2 ð16Þ

L0 ¼ LAB þ LBC ð17Þ

LAB ¼ l  ð4πd 1 =λÞ2 ð18Þ

0
LBC ¼ 2l  ð4πd 2 =λÞ2 ð19Þ
0
L1 ¼ LAB þ LBC ð20Þ
8
> 3
>
< ; d1 ¼ d2
L d 21 þ
2d 22 4 cos2 a þ 1
¼ ¼ 2d 1 −2d 1 d cosa
2 ð21Þ
L0 d þ d 22
2 >
>
:1þ 2 ; d 1 ≠d 2
2d þ d 21 −2d 1 d cosa

From (21), we can see that if L1/L0 < 1, then d 21 þ d 22 < d 2 . It is the cooperation bene-
ficial condition. In particular, when d1 = d2, i.e., a = π/4, L1/L0 = 1. It can be seen from
Fig. 7, when the angle a < π/4, the cooperative transmission is beneficial, and once
again proves the conclusion that when d 21 þ d 22 < d 2 , cooperative transmission is
beneficial.
Next, the favorable conditions for relaying will be analyzed under the condition when
the amount of data taken charge of by relay cluster head and the source cluster head
are not the same. In Fig. 8, the energy of cluster head A is greater than that of cluster
head B. The intersection region needs to be divided. Assuming that the total data

Fig. 6 Cooperation derivation situation

Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 16 of 33

Fig. 7 Curve of versus

amount is 2l bits, if the amount of data collected by cluster head A is xl, the amount of
data collected by cluster head B is (2 − x)l. We have

LAC ¼ xl  ð4πd=λÞ2 ð22Þ

LBC ¼ ð2−xÞl  ð4πd 2 =λÞ2 ð23Þ

LAB ¼ xl  ð4πd 1 =λÞ2 ð24Þ

LBC ¼ 2l  ð4πd 2 =λÞ2 ð25Þ

L LAB þ LBC xd 2 þ 2d 22
¼ ¼ 2 1 ð26Þ
L0 LAC þ LBC xd þ ð2−xÞd 22

when L1/L0 < 1, then cooperation is beneficial, i.e., when d 21 þ d 22 < d 2 . Thus, Theorem
1 is validated.

5.5 Intercluster routing

The intercluster routing adopts the “single-hop” or “multi-hop” data transmission
method and needs to be judged according to the distance between the cluster head and

Fig. 8 Cooperation derivation situation 2

Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 17 of 33

the Sink node. The distance dhop is the critical distance. The distance from the cluster
head to the base station is di _ sink. When di _ sink > dhop, if the cooperation beneficial
condition is satisfied, from Section 5.4, then a “multi-hop” approach is used. Otherwise
the “single-hop” approach is adopted, i.e., the cluster head node i sends information
directly to the sink node. The “single-hop” approach is suitable for two situations.
Either when di _ sink < = dhop, or when di _ sink > dhop,but the cooperation beneficial con-
dition is not satisfied, the “single-hop” approach is adopted. The algorithm for inter-
cluster “multi-hop” routing is as follows.

Sorting all the cluster head nodes in descending order of distance from the sink is to
find the next hop node for the cluster head node farthest from the sink firstly until an
intercluster route from the node to the sink is formed. Next, finding the next-hop node
for the farthest distance among the remaining nodes outside the hot zone, until an in-
tercluster route from the node to the sink is formed. Iterate through this loop until all
cluster head nodes have explicit routes. From Section 5.4, it can be seen that cooper-
ation are favorable when d 21 þ d 22 < d 2 . Therefore, in the fifth row of the algorithm,
when finding the next hop node for the cluster head i, the node j that satisfies the d 2i j

þd 2j sink < d 2i sink condition is the next hop candidate node. Calculate G value for each
candidate node, and sorts them in descending order. The node j with the largest G
value is selected as the next-hop node. Selecting a suitable node from the candidate
next hop node j requires considering not only the current real-time residual energy of
the candidate node but also considering the number of times that the candidate node
helps other cluster head nodes to forward data. According to the principle that the next
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 18 of 33

hop node is selected as the candidate node with higher energy and fewer help forward-
ing times, the judgment value is
λ
Gð jÞ ¼ min E j ðτ−1Þ þ PEH; j ðτ−1Þ; E M; j −E R ð jÞ−E F ð jÞ þ ð27Þ
Nj þ1

where G(j) is a judgment value for judging whether the candidate next hop node j is ap-
propriate. Sort G for candidate nodes in descending order. The node with largest G is
selected as the next hop node. ER(j) is the energy consumed by cluster head node j for
collecting the data of member nodes in clusters as (5). EF(j) is the energy consumed by
the cluster head node j for fusing the collected member node data as (6). Nj is the num-
ber of packets that cluster head node j helps other cluster head nodes to forward data,
and λ is a parameter.
Remark 2 The proposed intercluster “multi-hop” routing Algorithm 1 considers and
solves the competing relationship between nodes.
As shown in Fig. 9, nodes 2, 3, and 4 can be used as candidate next hop nodes for
node 1 and node 5. If node 1 and node 5 both select node 2 as a cooperation node ac-
cording to (27), will there be competition? According to the intercluster “multi-hop”
routing algorithm, it is known that the next-hop cooperative node is first searched for
node 1 farthest from the sink, until an intercluster route from the node 1 to the sink
node is formed. Then look for the next hop collaboration node for node 5 until the in-
tercluster route from the node 5 to the sink node is formed. Because of the sequential
order, it involves the competition between source nodes. Also, the next-hop coopera-
tive node is determined according to (27). Considering the number of times to help for-
ward the data, the competition between next hop nodes is also considered. The
situation that node 2 is simultaneously the cooperating node for node 1 and node 5
can only take place under the following condition: after node 2 has helped node 1, it is
still better than nodes 3 and 4 for helping node 5, according to (27). Then node 2 acts
as a cooperator for node 5. It is also reasonable. Advantage explanation: The interclus-
ter routing algorithm proposed in this paper shows that when the nodes meet the co-
operation beneficial condition, relay cooperation transmission is performed. The
principle of cooperation among cluster heads is derived in this paper, which not only
gives cooperation beneficial condition but also gives the cooperation order among clus-
ter heads, the cooperative competition relationship among cluster heads. A complete
intercluster routing multi-hop algorithm is designed, which is simple, efficient, and en-
ergy balanced compared to DCEM’s minimal energy path search method. Compared to
the EEUC intercluster routing algorithm, it also considers the number of determining
to help other nodes forward data in addition to considering the current energy, and
more reasonably analyzes the burden of the next candidate node, so as to make cluster

Fig. 9 Cooperation competing relationship between nodes

Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 19 of 33

head energy more balanced. More important, collaboration is only done when the co-
operation is favorable for energy saving, compared with EEUC and DCEM. The choice
of routing is more flexible and judged on each transmission. The route selection is
more flexible, and it is judged on each transmission, which avoids the node energy con-
sumption on the path generated by the fixed routing method being too fast. The inter-
cluster route multi-hop algorithm along with the simplified cluster head election and
the cluster intersection region division method greatly improves the transmission effi-
ciency between cluster heads, and solves the transmission efficiency problem when
cluster heads are densely distributed.

5.6 Parameter study

There are several important parameters with the method. In this subsection, we study
how parameter α3, αhead, and dhop affect the performance of network, and also find out
what values should be used for these three parameters through experiment. Here, we
choose energy efficiency (equals to the rate of[Econsume(k) + Eleft(k)]/[Eharvest(k) + Einitial])
as the metric to measure performance. The general simulation setting is discussed in
Section 7.

1 The parameters affecting the number of cluster heads

The radius rch is the search radius of node to form clusters. α3 is the parameter con-
trolling the cluster radius rch relative to the transmission distance threshold d0. αhead is
the rate to choose residual nodes as cluster head nodes. The larger α3 is, the more
nodes could be included in the selected cluster heads, and the fewer nodes will be
remained unclustered, which leads to less probability that new cluster heads come into
being. The larger αhead is, the more cluster heads will be selected generally, which leads
to more cluster heads. So α3 and αhead are important parameters to control the number
of cluster heads. Too few cluster heads will cause the cluster heads to decay quickly
due to the heavy load of forwarding data for the nodes in the cluster and intercluster
communication with relatively long distance, which is not favorable to energy balance
use. However, too many cluster heads will increase total energy consumption because
the energy consumed on intercluster communication is too large due to long distance,
and the energy consumed on intra-cluster communication is too little. In limitation
case, too small radius will lead to each node being cluster head on their own, which
makes the network a non-hierarchical network. So for certain network, the parameters
of α3 and αhead must be carefully chosen. We use the experiment to study the parame-
ters. In our simulation, there are 100 nodes uniformly deployed in the 100 m × 100 m
area. The Sink node is located at (100, 50) m which is assumed to have unlimited en-
ergy. The commonly used constant value for energy consumption calculations is Efuse =
5 nJ/bit,Eelec = 50 nJ/bit, εamp = 0.0013 pJ/(bit ⋅ m4), εfs = 10 pJ/(bit ⋅ m2). The packet
length is l = 100 bit.d0 = 87 m. The control parameters are α1 = β1 = α2 = β2 = 0.5, λ = 1.
With α3 = 1/2, we vary the value of αhead from 5 to 25% at space 5%, under four settings
of energy initial and harvesting conditions. The four settings are as follows: The battery
capacity is the same for all nodes, EM = 50, 80 mJ, respectively. The initial energy is dis-
tributed randomly in the range of [0, 25], [0, 50] mJ, respectively. The harvested energy
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 20 of 33

in each time slot is 10%, 20% of the initial energy of the node, respectively. The mean
of energy efficiency with different value of αhead after 1000 rounds are plotted in Fig. 10
under four different settings.
In Figs. 10 and 11, scenario 4, the battery energy is 80 mJ and the harvesting rate is
0.2. In scenario 3, the battery energy is 80 mJ and the harvesting rate is 0.1. In scenario
2, the battery energy is 50 mJ and the harvesting rate is 0.2. In scenario 1, the battery
energy is 50 mJ and the harvesting rate is 0.1. It can be observed from the figures that
the average energy efficiency is maximum and the standard deviation is minimum in
each case when αhead is 0.25; that is, the energy can be best utilized and the energy used
in each round is relatively stable. It can be found that αhead of 25% is enough. With
αhead = 25%, changing the value of α3 from 0.25 to 0.80 at space 0.05, under four set-
tings of initial energy and harvesting conditions. The four settings are similar with the
above four cases: The battery capacity is the same for all nodes, EM = 50, 80 mJ, re-
spectively. The initial energy is distributed randomly in the range of [0, 25], [0, 50] mJ,
respectively. The harvested energy in each time slot is 10%, 20% of the initial energy of
the node, respectively. The mean of energy efficiency and the packet drop rate with dif-
ferent value of αhead after 1000 rounds are plotted in Fig. 11, under four different set-
tings. In Figs. 12 and 13, scenario 1 represents battery energy is 50 mJ, and the
harvesting rate is 0.1. Scenario 3 represents the battery energy is 80 mJ, and the har-
vesting rate is 0.1. Scenario 2 represents the battery energy is 50 mJ, and the harvesting
rate is 0.2. Scenario 4 represents the battery energy is 80 mJ, and the harvesting rate is
0.2. In four cases, when α3 is 0.6, the drop rate is the lowest, the energy efficiency is the
best, and the standard deviation is the smallest. Through comprehensive analysis, α3 is
selected as 0.6. And the range of node is 100 m × 100 m, relatively small for d0 = 87 m.
So whether the radius is small or large does not affect the node selection process much.
When the node distribution range is larger, the effect of α3 may be much larger.

Fig. 10 The mean of energy efficiency versus αhead under four settings. In scenario 4, the battery energy is 80
mJ and the harvesting rate is 0.2. In scenario 3, the battery energy is 80 mJ and the harvesting rate is 0.1. In
scenario 2, the battery energy is 50 mJ and the harvesting rate is 0.2. In scenario 1, the battery energy is 50 mJ
and the harvesting rate is 0.1
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 21 of 33

Fig. 11 The standard deviation of energy versus αhead under four settings. In scenario 4, the battery
energy is 80 mJ and the harvesting rate is 0.2. In scenario 3, the battery energy is 80 mJ and the harvesting
rate is 0.1. In scenario 2, the battery energy is 50 mJ and the harvesting rate is 0.2. In scenario 1, the battery
energy is 50 mJ and the harvesting rate is 0.1

2 The parameters affecting the intercluster routing

The distance dhop is the critical distance to control “hot zone” problem. Originally
the nodes near the Sink node will exhaust their energy too quickly due to the heavy
load that they help others to forward. If there is a control circle with radius dhop round
the Sink node, in which the nodes will directly communicate with the Sink node

Fig. 12 The mean of energy efficiency versus α3 under four settings. Scenario 1 represents battery energy is 50
mJ, and the harvesting rate is 0.1. Scenario 3 represents the battery energy is 80 mJ, and the harvesting rate is
0.1. Scenario 2 represents the battery energy is 50 mJ, and the harvesting rate is 0.2. Scenario 4 represents the
battery energy is 80 mJ, and the harvesting rate is 0.2
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 22 of 33

Fig. 13 The standard deviation of energy versus α3 under four settings. Scenario 1 represents battery
energy is 50 mJ, and the harvesting rate is 0.1. Scenario 3 represents the battery energy is 80 mJ, and the
harvesting rate is 0.1. Scenario 2 represents the battery energy is 50 mJ, and the harvesting rate is 0.2.
Scenario 4 represents the battery energy is 80 mJ, and the harvesting rate is 0.2

without the help of relay nodes, the nodes in the inner circle round the Sink will be less
burdened. According to Section 5.5, the larger the distance dhop is, the more nodes in
the control zone are, and the more balanced the energy will be used among the nodes
in the control. But too large dhop will cause too many nodes to directly communicate
with the Sink node, which leads to too much energy consumption of the network. So
there must be a proper value for dhop. We take the network deployment as the above
as an example. αhead is set as 0.25. α3 is set as 0.6. Other parameters, such as α1, β1, l,
are as same as the above settings. As shown in Fig. 13, the average energy efficiency and
the standard deviation with different value of dhop from 50 to 90, after 100 rounds are
plotted . It can be observed from Figs. 14 and 15 that when dhop is 45, the average energy
efficiency is maximum and the standard deviation is minimum in each case; that is, when
the value is 45, the energy can be best utilized, and each round of energy is relatively
stable. The critical dhop is determined as 45 m as indicated by the simulation results.

6 Results and discussion

The general simulation scenario for network node distribution is shown in Fig. 16.
Ninety-nine nodes randomly and uniformly distributed in the 100 m × 100 m area. The
Sink node is located at (100, 50) m which is assumed to have unlimited energy. Each
node periodically generates packets, and packets are transmitted to sink nodes. The
packet length is l = 1 bit. The commonly used constant value for energy consumption
calculations is Efuse = 5 nJ/bit, Eelec = 50 nJ/bit, εamp = 0.0013 pJ/(bit ⋅ m4), εfs = 10
pJ/(bit ⋅ m2), d0 = 60 m. For DCEM algorithm, the radius of clusters is 35 m. For EBCR
algorithm, the other parameters of αhead, α3, and dhop could use the best studied values.
Here, in order to show the general performance, we set the parameters as 0.2, 0.2, 87
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 23 of 33

Fig. 14 The mean of energy efficiency versus dhop under four settings. Scenario 1 represents battery energy
is 50 mJ, and the harvesting rate is 0.1. Scenario 3 represents the battery energy is 80 mJ, and the
harvesting rate is 0.1. Scenario 2 represents the battery energy is 50 mJ, and the harvesting rate is 0.2.
Scenario 4 represents the battery energy is 80 mJ, and the harvesting rate is 0.2

m. The threshold for help in the hot zone is 3. The control parameters are α1 = β1 =
α2 = β2 = 0.5, λ = 1. For DCEM algorithm, its control parameters are α = β = 0.5.

6.1 Scenario without energy harvesting

6.1.1 Simulation scenario 1
It is a scenario without energy harvesting. The hardware configuration of the 100 nodes
is the same, i.e., the battery capacity is the same for all nodes EM = 0.12 mJ. The initial

Fig. 15 The standard deviation of energy versus dhop under four settings. Scenario 1 represents battery
energy is 50 mJ, and the harvesting rate is 0.1. Scenario 3 represents the battery energy is 80 mJ, and the
harvesting rate is 0.1. Scenario 2 represents the battery energy is 50 mJ, and the harvesting rate is 0.2.
Scenario 4 represents the battery energy is 80 mJ, and the harvesting rate is 0.2
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 24 of 33

Fig. 16 Network node distribution

energy is distributed randomly in the range of [0.10, 0.12] mJ. For the WSN without en-
ergy harvesting, the biggest drawback is that the node energy is limited. If the node en-
ergy exhaustion is too fast, too many exhausted nodes will cause paralysis of the
network and unreliable data transmission. Therefore, reducing the energy consumption
as much as possible and extending the network life cycle are the primary goals. There-
fore, the total energy consumption of the network and the number of surviving nodes
are important indicators for evaluating the clustering algorithm.

a Total network residual energy

The total network energy consumption of the EBCR and DCEM algorithms are
shown in Fig. 17. The EBCR algorithm does not find an advantage node in the selection
of cluster heads and to take over the nodes in the entire communication area in clus-
tering phase, but makes good use of the nodes with larger energy as cluster heads and
designs dynamic search radius according to their energy and distance from the Sink
node. It also allows the division of the cross regions of the clusters and gives a reason-
able division method. This effectively reduces the burden on the cluster head, helps to
avoid excessive consumption of cluster heads in the hot zone, and alleviates the hot
zone problem. In the intercluster routing: firstly, the candidate next hop nodes are se-
lected according to the beneficial inequality relations among the cluster head nodes.
During determining the next hop nodes, the cooperation order and coordination rela-
tionship between the cluster head nodes are considered, enabling more balanced con-
sumption. As shown in Fig. 15, that the total energy consumption of nodes in the
network is lower than that of the DCEM algorithm in each round of network operation
of the EBCR algorithm, the network life cycle is significantly longer than the DCEM al-
gorithm, which effectively extends the network life cycle.
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 25 of 33

Fig. 17 Total network energy consumption. The legend DCEM denotes the performance curve of DECM
method. The legend EBCR denotes the performance curve of EBCR method

b Number of surviving nodes

The numbers of surviving nodes of the EBCR algorithm and the DCEM algorithm
are shown in Fig. 18. The comparison of the round numbers of the EBCR and the
DCEM algorithms is shown in Table 1.
Performance elevation rate of EBCR compared to DCEM is:

Fig. 18 The number of surviving nodes. The legend DCEM denotes the performance curve of DECM
method. The legend EBCR denotes the performance curve of EBCR method
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 26 of 33

Table 1 Comparison of the number of rounds

Algorithm The round number of the first The round number of the 50th The total running round
death node death node number
DCEM 48 466 805
EBCR 90 493 982
Promotion 87.5% 5.8% 22%

nEBCR −nDCEM
promotion ¼ 100% ð28Þ
nDCEM

where nEBCR is the number of dead rounds in the network using the EBCR algorithm
and nDCEM is the number of dead rounds in the network using the DCEM algorithm. It
can be seen that the EBCR algorithm is optimized for cluster head selection, clustering,
and intercluster routing, so that the network load are balanced among nodes and there
are less fail nodes in the same round. The first death node failed in the 90th round and
the 50th death node failed in the 493th round. The total number of running rounds is
982 rounds. The performance is significantly improved by 87.5%, 5.8%, and 22%, re-
spectively in the corresponding aspects compared with the DCEM algorithm. The net-
work life cycle is significantly longer.

6.2 Energy harvesting scenario with uniform nodes

For WSNs with energy harvesting, attention should be paid to energy efficiency as well
as total consumption energy. The energy utilization efficiency is shown in (29).

E consume ðk Þ þ E left ðk Þ
efficiency ðk Þ ¼ ð29Þ
E harvest ðk Þ þ E initial

In (29), Econsume(k) is the total data transmission consumption energy by time slot k,
Eleft(k) is the total residual energy in the time network, and Eharvest(k) is the total ab-
sorption energy in the network by time slot k. The energy harvesting rate is quite dif-
ferent among these scenarios, which indicates that the total energy available for use is
not the same among these scenarios. Moreover, except energy consumption, there is
overflow energy waste due to limited energy capacity. Because of these, the total energy
consumption is not a useful measurement to method performance. The energy
utilization efficiency is more useful to measure the method performance.

6.2.1 Simulation scenario 2

It is an energy harvesting scenario. The hardware configuration of the 100 nodes is
the same. The battery capacity is the same for all nodes, EM = 0.12 mJ. The initial
energy is distributed randomly in the range of [0, 0.12] mJ. The harvested energy
in each time slot is 10% of the initial energy of the node. After running for 1000
rounds, the total energy consumption in network and the energy utilization effi-
ciency are shown in Figs. 19 and 20.

6.2.2 Simulation scenario 3

The scenario is the same with simulation scenario 2 except that the harvested energy in
each time slot for each node is randomly distributed. The harvested energy rate for all
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 27 of 33

Fig. 19 Total energy consumption in network. The legend DCEM denotes the performance curve of DECM
method. The legend EBCR denotes the performance curve of EBCR method

Fig. 20 The energy utilization efficiency. The legend DCEM denotes the performance curve of DECM
method. The legend EBCR denotes the performance curve of EBCR method
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 28 of 33

nodes meets a normal distribution with mean of 10%, variance of 0.04. After running
for 1000 rounds, the total energy consumption in network and the energy utilization ef-
ficiency are shown in Figs. 21 and 22.

6.3 Energy harvesting scenario with non-uniform nodes

6.3.1 Simulation scenario 4
It is an energy harvesting scene. Assume that the hardware configuration of the 100
nodes is different. There are five special nodes with special large battery capacity EM=
0.24 mJ. The energy harvested by the five special nodes in each slot is 20% of the initial
energy of the node. The remaining 95 nodes are ordinary nodes, of which the battery
capacity is 0.12 mJ. The initial energy of all nodes is random distributed in the range of
[0, 0.12] mJ. The energy harvested by the 95 ordinary nodes in each slot is 10% of the
initial energy of the node. After running for 1000 rounds, the total energy consumption
in network and the energy utilization efficiency are shown in Figs. 23 and 24.

6.3.2 Simulation scenario 5

The scenario is the same with simulation scenario 4 except that the initial energy of
the special five nodes is random distributed in the range of [0.06, 0.08] mJ. The initial
energy of the ordinary 95 nodes is random distributed in the range of [0, 0.12] mJ.
After running for 1000 rounds, the total energy consumption in network and the en-
ergy utilization efficiency are shown in Figs. 25 and 26. Figures 19, 21, 23 and 25 show
the performance of DCEM and EBCR methods in scenario 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively
with the networks running 1000 rounds. It can also be seen that the total energy con-
sumption of EBCR algorithm is less than that of DCEM algorithm after each run of the
network. The slope of the total energy consumption curve of EBCR algorithm is smaller

Fig. 21 Total energy consumption in network. The legend DCEM denotes the performance curve of DECM
method. The legend EBCR denotes the performance curve of EBCR method
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 29 of 33

Fig. 22 The energy utilization efficiency. The legend DCEM denotes the performance curve of DECM
method. The legend EBCR denotes the performance curve of EBCR method

Fig. 23 Total energy consumption in network. The legend DCEM denotes the performance curve of DECM
method. The legend EBCR denotes the performance curve of EBCR method
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 30 of 33

Fig. 24 The energy utilization efficiency. The legend DCEM denotes the performance curve of DECM
method. The legend EBCR denotes the performance curve of EBCR method

than DCEM method in all scenarios and the energy efficiency of EBCR method is
higher than DCEM method in all scenarios. This validates the better performance of
EBCR method than DCEM method. In scenarios 2 and 3, the energy harvesting rate of
nodes is more unbalanced in scenario 2, which makes the network condition more un-
balanced than in scenario 3. Simulations show DCEM and EBCR methods both have
better performance in scenario 3 than in scenario 2. The more balanced the network is,
the better performance the methods are. Moreover, under scenario 2, the gap of energy
utilization efficiency between the two methods is bigger. This shows that EBCR has

Fig. 25 Total energy consumption in network. The legend DCEM denotes the performance curve of DECM
method. The legend EBCR denotes the performance curve of EBCR method
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 31 of 33

Fig. 26 The energy utilization efficiency. The legend DCEM denotes the performance curve of DECM
method. The legend EBCR denotes the performance curve of EBCR method

stronger adjustment ability of energy balanced utilization than DCEM, so that the en-
ergy consumption can be more efficient. Under the condition of more unbalanced en-
ergy harvesting, the energy equilibrium effect of EBCR is more obvious. In scenarios 4
and 5, the energy harvesting rate of nodes is more unbalanced in scenario 4, which
makes the network condition more unbalanced than in scenario 5. Simulations show
that DCEM method has better performance in scenario 5 than in scenario 4. The per-
formance of EBCR is not obviously elevated as DCEM method in scenario 5 because
the selection of cluster head is performed one by one by energy order and position rela-
tionship in DCEM method, while in EBCR the cluster heads are selected by energy
amount of largest 10% and then larger 10% among the remaining unclustered nodes.
The 10% generally contains all 5% special nodes. Moreover, in scenario 4, the energy of
the special 5% nodes is generally larger than in scenario 5. The energy utilization not
only relates to balanced property of energy but also relates to mean harvesting energy
of the nodes. From scenario 2, scenario 3, scenario 4, and scenario 5, under various
classic scenarios, BECR is always better than DCEM in energy utilization efficiency, and
the total consumed energy in the network by EBCR is always smaller than DCEM in
every round of network. This validates the superior performance in terms of balanced
energy use and high energy efficiency of our proposed EBCR method.

7 Conclusions
In this paper, the method of distributed clustering routing is studied. A distributed
clustering method combining greatly simplified cluster head election, dynamic cluster
radius, and intersection region division mechanism is proposed, and an intercluster co-
operation routing scheme is proposed. According to simulation results, EBCR performs
better in balanced energy usage, leading to high network energy efficiency in energy
Yao et al. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking (2020) 2020:131 Page 32 of 33

harvesting scenario and a longer network survival life in energy non-harvesting sce-
nario. It also effectively reduces the cluster head failure probability, greatly improves
the cluster update time, and reduces the maintenance cost of the clusters. On the
whole, the method achieves a more balanced energy consumption performance than
the distributed clustered DCEM and EEUC. It also requires less calculation than
UCFIA and UDEB. The proposed EBCR method is generally better than the existing
method in terms of energy balanced use and avoids complex computations. In the fu-
ture, we will discuss the parameter selection of the method.
Abbreviations
EBCR: Energy balanced clustering routing; DCEM: Delay-constrained energy-efficient cluster-based multi-hop routing;
WSN: Wireless sensor network; LEACH: Low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy; TEEN: Threshold-sensitive energy-
efficient sensor network protocol; HEED: Hybrid energy efficient distributed clustering algorithm; PSO-ECHS: Particle
swarm optimization based energy-efficient cluster head selection; PSO: Particle swarm optimization; AMRP: Average
minimum reachability power; ACO: Ant colony optimization; AMRP: Average minimum reachability power;
EEUC: Energy-efficient uneven clustering; UCFIA: Unequal clustering algorithm for WSN based on fuzzy logic and
improved ACO; UDEB: Uneven clustering dynamic routing based on energy efficiency and balanced

Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers who have contributed to the enhancement of the paper’s completeness
with their valuable suggestions.

Authors’ contributions
The five authors of the paper have extensively participated in all of the paper writing. YY and CW mainly worked on
the idea and innovative research method. GJ wrote part of the paper. HX programmed and performed most of the
simulations. LR revised this paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Author’s information
Not applicable.

Funding
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing(4172021), the Importation and Development of
High-Caliber Talents Project of Beijing Municipal Institutions (CIT&TCD201704064), in part by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China and Shanxi Provincial People’s Government Jointly Funded Project of China for Coal Base
and Low Carbon under Grant U1510115, the Qing Lan Project, the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation under
Grant No. 2013T60574, and by the Open Research Fund of Key Laboratory of Wireless Sensor Network and
Communication, Shanghai Institute of Micro-system and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, under
Grant 20190902.

Availability of data and materials

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

Consent for publication

We agree to the publication of the paper.

Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Author details
1
Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Optoelectronic Measurement Technology and Instrument, Advanced
Equipment Intelligent Perception and Control, Beijing International Cooperation Base for Science and Technology,
Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing, China. 2School of Computer Science and Technology,
China University of Mining Technology, Xuzhou 221116, Jiangsu, China. 3Mine Digitization Engineering Research
Center of the Ministry of Education, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, Jiangsu, China.
4
School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.

Received: 29 February 2020 Accepted: 3 June 2020

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