An African vulture optimization algorithm based energy efficient clustering scheme in wireless sensor networks

Abstract Energy efficiency plays a major role in sustaining lifespan and stability of the network, being one of most critical factors in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). To overcome the problem of energy depletion in WSN, this paper proposes a new Energy Efficient Clustering Scheme named African Vulture Optimization Algorithm based EECS (AVOACS) using AVOA. The proposed AVOACS method improves clustering by including four critical terms: communication mode decider, distance of sink and nodes, residual energy and intra-cluster distance. Through mimicking the natural scavenging behavior of African vultures, AVOACS continuously balances energy consumption on nodes resulting in an increase in network stability and lifetime. For CH selection, we use AVOACS, which considers the following parameters: communication mode decider, the distance between sink and node, residual energy, and intra-cluster distance. In comparison to the OE2-LB protocol, simulation findings demonstrate that AVOACS enhances stability, network lifetime, and throughput by 21.5%, 31.4%, and 16.9%, respectively. The results show that AVOACS is an effective clustering algorithm for energy-efficient operation in heterogeneous WSN environments as it contributes to a large increase of network lifetime and significant enhancement of performance.