MACHFL-FT: a fuzzy logic based energy-efficient protocol to cluster heterogeneous nodes in wireless sensor networks

This article presents a fuzzy-based algorithm to cluster heterogeneous nodes using a fixed threshold in wireless sensor networks (MACHFL-FT). By using three clustering algorithm in different rounds, the proposed method chooses the best sensor nodes as cluster heads. On the other hand, in order to reduce sent messages, it is able to avoid selecting cluster heads by using a fixed threshold value in some rounds. Reducing the number of transmitted messages results in the reduction of nodes’ energy consumption, leading to more network energy conservation. In this article, the proposed algorithm (MACHFL-FT) clusters heterogeneous nodes by using three different algorithms. To save more energy, it would avoid holding cluster head elections in some rounds by using a fixed threshold value. The proposed algorithm is compared to other methods in two scenarios. The assessment criteria used in the comparison include the network remaining energy, the number of dead nodes, the first dead node, half of dead nodes and the last dead node. The results show that MACHFL-FT could reduce network energy consumption and prolong network lifetime.