Dynamic Multi-hop Clustering in a Wireless Sensor Network: Performance Improvement

A cluster-based model is preferable in wireless sensor network due to its ability to reduce energy consumption. However, managing the nodes inside the cluster in a dynamic environment is an open challenge. Selecting the cluster heads (CHs) is a cumbersome process that greatly affects the network performance. Although there are several studies that propose CH selection methods, most of them are not appropriate for a dynamic clustering environment. To avoid this problem, several methods were proposed based on intelligent algorithms such as fuzzy logic, genetic algorithm (GA), and neural networks. However, these algorithms work better within a single-hop clustering model framework, and the network lifetime constitutes a big issue in case of multi-hop clustering environments. This paper introduces a new CH selection method based on GA for both single-hop and the multi-hop cluster models. The proposed method is designed to meet the requirements of dynamic environments by electing the CH based on six main features, namely, (1) the remaining energy, (2) the consumed energy, (3) the number of nearby neighbors, (4) the energy aware distance, (5) the node vulnerability, and (6) the degree of mobility. We shall see how the corresponding results show that the proposed algorithm greatly extends the network lifetime.