Optimization of the selection of cluster‐head using fuzzy logic and harmony search in wireless sensor networks.

Summary: Wireless sensor networks (WSN) encompasses millions of nodes that work jointly, senses environmental information, and transmits to the Base Station (BS). "Energy hole" or "hot‐spot" is a problem in which sensor nodes near to the BS deceasetoo early which creates the partitioning of the network. This is due to the reason of the difference in the consumption of energy by the nodes in WSN which reduces the lifespan of the sensor network. The distribution of the cluster heads and the load balancing are the major pitfalls. In this paper to deal with the statedpitfalls, a hybrid of fuzzy logic technique and harmony search algorithm is proposed to lengthen the lifetime of the network. Unequal clustering is a technique proposed by the researchers to handle the hot‐spot issue, hence it is also included. The proposed algorithm forms unequal clusters. To prove the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, some well‐known unequal clustering algorithms and harmony search based algorithmare used to compare the proposed algorithm under different network settings. In all the settings, better performance is achieved by the proposed protocol. It prolongs the lifespan of the network as compared to the different algorithms proposed so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]