Bottleneck node detection and routing method for wireless sensor networks

There is a kind of nodes, namely bottleneck nodes, which can lead to the partition of whole wireless sensor network if they are dead. A similar concept, quasi-bottleneck nodes, has been discussed. We define the separated groups of nodes as clusters, based on which a novel bottleneck node detection method is presented. Furthermore, from the point of view of balance of energy consumption of the quasi-bottleneck nodes and the nodes in front of bottleneck nodes that are called the Bottleneck Nodes Father Nodes (BNFNs), two energy-efficient routing methods based on minimum multi-hop multi-routes selection are presented, which can reduce the influence of the quasi-bottleneck nodes and bottleneck nodes. Simulation results show that the detection method can not only detect the bottleneck nodes successfully, but also balance the energy consumption of the quasi-bottleneck nodes and the BNFN, which prolongs the network life.