An Integrated Approach for Constructing Cluster-based Virtual Backbone with Mobile Sink

In Wireless Sensor Networks, no physical backbone infrastructure used while all sensor nodes are energy constrained and impractical to recharge. The behavior of networks becomes unstable once the first node dies. The key challenge in such networks is how to reduce energy consumption to increase the network lifetime, especially with the different amount of energy in heterogeneity environments. In this paper, the virtual backbone routing solution is suggested to reduce energy consumption in a wireless sensor network. An integrated approach combines both advantages of hierarchical cluster-based architecture and shortest spanning tree topology for constructing a virtual backbone with a mobile sink. The clustering solution is used to divide the network into clusters and reduces the number of nodes included in the communication. On the other hand, the shortest spanning tree technique is used to construct a backbone among all cluster heads and mobile sink every time the sink traverses to a new location. The proposed approach aims to construct an efficient data aggregation spanning tree used to send or receive data between the mobile sink and elected cluster heads in wireless sensor networks. It constructs an efficient virtual backbone to decrease the energy consumption and prolong the lifetime of the network. Performance evaluation results demonstrate how the proposed approach prolongs the lifetime of wireless sensor networks compared to some conventional clustering protocols.