Ant Colony Optimization with Levy-Based Unequal Clustering and Routing (ACO-UCR) Technique for Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) became a novel technology for ubiquitous livelihood and still remains a hot research topic because of its applicability in diverse domains. Energy efficiency treated as a crucial factor lies in the designing of WSN. Clustering is commonly applied to increase the energy efficiency and reduce the energy utilization. The proper choice of cluster heads (CHs) and cluster sizes is important in a cluster-based WSN. The CHs which are placed closer to base station (BS) are affected by the hot spot issue and it exhausts its energy faster than the usual way. For addressing this issue, a new unequal clustering and routing technique using ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm is presented. Initially, CHs are chosen and clusters are constructed based on several variables. Next, the ACO algorithm with levy distribution is applied for the selection of optimal paths between two nodes in the network. A comprehensive validation set takes place under diverse situations under the position of BS. The experimental outcome verified the superiority of the presented model under several validation parameters.