FLEAC: Fuzzy Logic-based Energy Adequate Clustering Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks using Improved Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm

Sensor nodes (SNs) in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) sense surrounding environmental data and transfers it to the end user via multi-hop transmission which results in inflated energy expenditure. Thus, the main motive for design and deployment of a WSN is to balance the energy consumption and, thereby maximize its network lifetime. An effective topology control scheme which helps in achieving this objective is clustering of SNs and at the same time selecting appropriate cluster heads (CHs). In this paper, we propose Fuzzy Logic-based Energy Adequate Clustering (FLEAC), a clustering protocol that makes use of fuzzy if–then rules for selecting appropriate CHs on the basis of five fuzzy descriptors, namely residual energy, average intra-cluster distance, compaction degree, packet drop probability and node history. Moreover, the proposed protocol considers selection of relay nodes (RNs) for alleviating excessive energy consumption of cluster heads. Improved grasshopper optimization algorithm is employed for the selection of appropriate relay nodes. The CHs collect data and send to the RNs that relays them to the Base station (BS). These RNs share the CHs data transmission and, thereby offload the CHs energy consumption. The performance of the proposed protocol is compared with existing comparative protocols by varying several parameters such as position of the BS and network size. The simulation results show that the proposed protocol outperforms other comparative protocols in the considered scenarios by achieving well balanced energy consumption and enhanced network lifetime.