Fuzzy Logic Approach to Zone-Based Stable Cluster Head Election Protocol-Enhanced for Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy is a scarce resource in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). A variety of clustering protocols for WSNs, such as the zone-based stable election protocol-enhanced (ZSEP-E), have been developed for energy optimization. The ZSEP-E is a heterogeneous zone-based clustering protocol that focuses on unbalanced energy consumption with parallel formation of clusters in zones and election of cluster heads (CHs). Most ZSEP-E research has assumed probabilistic election of CHs in the zones by considering the maximum residual energy of nodes. However, studies of the diverse CH election parameters are lacking. We investigated the performance of the ZSEP-E in such scenarios using a fuzzy logic approach based on three descriptors, i.e., energy, density, and the distance from the node to the base station. We proposed an efficient ZSEP-E scheme to adapt and elect CHs in zones using fuzzy variables and evaluated its performance for different energy levels in the zones.