An energy-balanced unequal clustering approach for circular wireless sensor networks

The network lifetime of the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is a critical factor for the relevant applications due to the limited energy supply. However, the imbalanced energy consumption of the whole network always leads to the “Hot Spot Problem” and the decline of network lifetime inevitably. To this end, the schemes of energy-balanced unequal clustering and energy-efficient cluster head rotation are considered in this paper. To be specific, we conduct detailed theoretical derivation and mathematical calculation based on the concept of gradient to obtain the optimal number of CHs, with the aim of balancing the energy consumption for the whole network topology. In addition, a fuzzy logic-based mechanism for CHs rotation is also proposed to balance the energy distribution among different cluster heads. Subsequently, a novel Energy-Balanced unequal Clustering Approach (EBCA) for circular wireless sensor networks is proposed and detailed. Finally, we conduct extensive simulations to verify its performance. The experimental results indicate that EBCA is able to balance the energy consumption of cluster heads in different gradient, reduce the energy consumption and prolong the network lifetime effectively compared with the classic and latest clustering algorithms.