Fuzzy C-Means Clustering Algorithm for Optimization of Routing Protocol in Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

-Optimization of energy is the fundamental requirement at all levels of system design in wireless sensor networks. Routing protocol based on clustering is not only scalable with the dimension of networks but also offers efficient management of energy. Configuration of suitable clusters is the primary focus in design of cluster based routing protocols for wireless sensor networks. Of the most decisive factors to setup suitable clusters, energy and distribution of nodes into clusters are the dominant ones. In this paper, an efficient cluster formation is presented based on the fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm. The eligibility of nodes to act as cluster head is defined with respect to the average residual energy so as to avoid premature collapse of networks. The optimization problem consists of finding the most favorable set of cluster leaders from the eligible set so that the communication distance of nodes from cluster leaders is minimized. The protocol is implemented in OMNeT++ simulation environment and experimental studies reveal that the proposed protocol defeats LEACH, LEACH-C and CHEF protocols with respect to the various network performance metrics.