Energy Optimization via Optimal Placement of Cluster Heads in Wireless Sensor Networks with Obstacles

In this paper, we present a technique to ensure complete network coverage and minimize the energy consumption in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) that have natural obstacles. These obstacles may prevent data transmission between the components of the network to reach the final destination or the base station (BS). Initially, we split the network into groups and clusters using graph partitioning technique and -mean clustering algorithm, respectively. We assign one cluster head (CH) for each group. Then, the problem turned to determine the optimal position of the CH within its group that provides line-of-sight (LOS) between the transmit-only (TO) sensor nodes and their corresponding cluster head (CH), as well as extending the lifetime of the network by reducing the number of operating TO sensor nodes. The last goal achieved using particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. Two scenarios are compared to assess the proposed algorithm against another standard algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed model is superior to the other model by about 6 and 7 times for the first and second scenarios, respectively, in terms of the network lifetime.