Optimizing Energy Consumption in Wireless Sensor Networks Through Linked List-Based Dynamic Cluster Head Reassignment (LDCHR)

Abstract In today’s digital world, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are widely used and connected to the Internet of Things (IoT). But this technology facing serious challenges such as limited battery power and short sensor node life. To overcome these issues, it is important to design an efficient routing protocol. This paper proposes a Linked List-Based Dynamic Cluster Head Reassignment (LDCHR) protocol, which dynamically selects CHs based on remaining energy, distance to the base station, and closeness to the cluster centroid. Here a key work is a linked list structure that stores backup CHs for each cluster, allowing constant-time CH switching O(1) when a primary CH’s energy drops below a threshold. The backup list updates in O(n) time without affecting real-time performance, ensuring minimal delay in CH transitions. Simulations has been done using NetSim 14.2 having three case scenario of 64, 100, and 144 nodes. This work is compared to the traditional LEACH protocol. The result shows LDCHR improves throughput by up to 60%, packet reception by up to 10.66%, and energy consumption is reduced by 12.02%, confirming its effectiveness to improve the network life of wireless sensor network.