A Review of Hierarchical Routing Protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks: Types and Recent Developments

Section: Review Paper
Issue
Vol. 30 No. 2 (2025): Volume 30 Issue 2
Published
Sep 1, 2025
Pages
1-15

Abstract

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are crucial in applications such as environmental monitoring, healthcare, and smart cities. However, the constrained energy resource of sensor nodes and the application may face some critical issues when a large number of sensor nodes are deployed with efficient data transmission. Previously, wireless sensor networks relied on flat routing protocols and location-based protocols for data transmission. Still, the main problem with flat routing protocols is that they perform inefficiently on a large network size. The results from direct communications amongst all nodes result in high energy consumption and congestion. These problems led to the development of hierarchical routing protocols (HRPs) to address these issues by organizing nodes into clusters, thus reducing energy consumption and improving network scalability. This reduces the communication overhead and extends the network's lifetime. This review paper reviews the challenges that led to the development of HRPs and recent developments that have been made for HRPs, with a focus on Power-Efficient GAthering in Sensor Information Systems (PEGASIS). It estimates the solutions these protocols offer and examines the remaining challenges, such as dynamic cluster management and load balancing. As a result, PEGASIS greatly improves energy efficiency and scalability, but there are still gaps for potential optimizations. So research efforts will be required in these areas to maximize performance and applicability for hierarchical routing protocols in WSNs

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Authors

Qamar Burhan Abdullah

Computer Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq

Salah Abdulghani Alabady

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

ORCID
Fadzli M. Salleh

Network Science and Analysis Lab (NSAL), Department of Computing, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, USA

ORCID
Mohammad S. Khan
ORCID

Identifiers

https://doi.org/10.33899/arej.2025.157162.1387
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[1]
Q. Burhan Abdullah, S. Abdulghani Alabady, F. M. Salleh, and M. S. Khan, “A Review of Hierarchical Routing Protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks: Types and Recent Developments”, AREJ, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 1–15, Sep. 2025.
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