A Firefly-Inspired Scheme for Energy-Efficient Transmission Scheduling Using a Self-Organizing Method in a Wireless Sensor Networks

Various types of natural phenomena are regarded as primary sources of information for artificial occurrences that involve spontaneous synchronization. Among the artificial occurrences that mimic natural phenomena are Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and the Pulse Coupled Oscillator (PCO), which utilizes firefly synchronization for attracting mating partners. However, the PCO model was not appropriate for wireless sensor networks because sensor nodes are typically not capable to collect sensor data packets during transmission (because of packet collision and deafness). To avert these limitations, this study proposed a self-organizing time synchronization algorithm that was adapted from the traditional PCO model of fireflies flashing synchronization. Energy consumption and transmission delay will be reduced by using this method. Using the proposed model, a simulation exercise was performed and a significant improvement in energy efficiency was observed, as reflected by an improved transmission scheduling and a coordinated duty cycling and data gathering ratio. Therefore, the energy-efficient data gathering is enhanced in the proposed model than in the original PCO-based wave-traveling model. The battery lifetime of the Sensor Nodes (SNs) was also extended by using the proposed model.