Design of an Energy-Aware Unequal Clustering Protocol based on Fuzzy Logic for Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy consumption is a major concern in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) resulting in a strong demand for energy-aware communication technologies. In this context, this dissertation aims to develop a cluster-based routing protocol for improving energy efficiency in WSN. Therefore, a Fuzzy-based Energy-Aware Unequal Clustering algorithm (FEAUC) with circular partitioning is proposed. It involves four phases: An off-line phase, a cluster formation phase, a cooperation phase and data collection phase. During the off-line phase, an energy analysis is performed to determine the radius of each ring and the optimal cluster radius per ring. The cluster formation phase uses a fuzzy logic approach to select the cluster head (CH). The cooperation phase aims to define an intermediate node as a router between different CHs. During the data collection phase data packet are transmitted from sensor nodes to their appropriate CHs, which forward them to another CH until reaching the base station. To avoid energy losses during the clustering for certain rounds, a threshold-based re-clustering process is introduced. The developed FEAUC is compared with referred unequal clustering protocols in terms of energy consumption and network lifetime.Performance evaluations are carried out by realistic scenarios and tested for a real deployment using the low-power wireless sensor node panStamp. As a step of proof of concept, a smart irrigation system is designed to control the quantity of water.