Genetic algorithm inspired energy efficient balanced clustering for sensor networks

The major concern in design and operation of wireless sensor networks is the issue of prolonging network lifetime which is basically rely on the network connectivity. And connectivity of the networks are directly depends on battery life of sensor nodes. However, the nodes have inadequate energy supplies and making battery change/substitution is very hard or even impractical. As a result, energy should be efficiently conserved to elongate sensor networks lifetime by having an energy-efficient routing algorithms. Hierarchical cluster routing algorithms can reduce energy consumption requirement; but the main problem and challenge of cluster formation is to select proper and suitable cluster heads by taking into consideration various parameters like remaining energy of the nodes, number of neighbours, position of node, and distance from base station. Cluster formation is a Non Polynomial hard problem, and evolutionary based technique is proposed to design an energy-efficient cluster to prolong lifetime of sensor networks, while ensuring energy efficient routing path construction for sensor nodes. Moreover, the proposed protocol maintains centrality of the cluster heads and let balanced energy dissipation among clusters. The protocol is implemented using OMNeT++ and the result analysis shows the protocol has good network stability period and the energy depletion of every node is smooth.