Optimal Cluster Leader Selection Using MCDM Methods in MWSN: A Comparative Study

Mobile wireless sensor networks (MWSNs) face many challenges in the age of the Internet of Things. Mobility and communication of sensors cost significant energy consumption; thus reduces the lifetime of the network. There are various techniques to improve the MWSN’s lifetime, one of which is the clustering method. Clustering-based routing protocols of MWSN improve energy efficiency and enhance network lifetime. In this work, we use two multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods (i.e. Fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)) for the selection of optimal cluster leaders (CLs) concerning five criteria: link reliability, connectivity, remaining energy, distance from base station (BS) and speed of sensor nodes. These methods may perform CLs selection, hence significantly improve the network lifetime. Fuzzy TOPSIS and fuzzy AHP are not only compared with each other but also with optimized zone-based energy-efficient routing protocol (OZEEP) and with Enhanced Cluster Based Routing Protocol (ECBR). Our results show that the fuzzy TOPSIS based optimal CL selection not only increases the lifetime of the network but also conserves the energy with minimum overhead.