AN ADAPTIVE ENERGY-EFFICIENT CLUSTERING AND ROUTING FRAMEWORK FOR WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

  • Unique Paper ID: 209949
  • Volume: 13
  • Issue: 5
  • PageNo: 3855-3864
  • Abstract:
  • Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) consist of large numbers of battery-powered nodes that sense, process and forward data, often in remote environments where recharging or replacing batteries is impractical. Energy depletion therefore governs network lifetime, coverage and data reliability. Clustering and routing are the most widely studied techniques for conserving energy because they reduce redundant transmissions, enable in-network data aggregation and balance load among nodes. This survey reviews more than thirty representative works spanning classical cluster-based protocols (LEACH, HEED, EECS), heterogeneity-aware schemes (SEP, DEEC, EEHC), unequal clustering for hot-spot mitigation, chain-based, reactive and data-centric routing, fuzzy-logic approaches, metaheuristic optimisation (PSO, GA, ACO) and learning-based routing. The approaches are compared on energy efficiency, scalability, control overhead and adaptability, and their limitations are identified. Based on this analysis, a conceptual adaptive energy-efficient clustering and routing framework is outlined that combines context-aware cluster-head election, load-balanced unequal clustering, energy-aware multi-hop routing and an adaptation controller. Open research issues are also highlighted.

Copyright & License

Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BibTeX

@article{209949,
        author = {KARTHIGA S and P. Prabaharan},
        title = {AN ADAPTIVE ENERGY-EFFICIENT CLUSTERING AND ROUTING FRAMEWORK FOR WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {13},
        number = {5},
        pages = {3855-3864},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=209949},
        abstract = {Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) consist of large numbers of battery-powered nodes that sense, process and forward data, often in remote environments where recharging or replacing batteries is impractical. Energy depletion therefore governs network lifetime, coverage and data reliability. Clustering and routing are the most widely studied techniques for conserving energy because they reduce redundant transmissions, enable in-network data aggregation and balance load among nodes. This survey reviews more than thirty representative works spanning classical cluster-based protocols (LEACH, HEED, EECS), heterogeneity-aware schemes (SEP, DEEC, EEHC), unequal clustering for hot-spot mitigation, chain-based, reactive and data-centric routing, fuzzy-logic approaches, metaheuristic optimisation (PSO, GA, ACO) and learning-based routing. The approaches are compared on energy efficiency, scalability, control overhead and adaptability, and their limitations are identified. Based on this analysis, a conceptual adaptive energy-efficient clustering and routing framework is outlined that combines context-aware cluster-head election, load-balanced unequal clustering, energy-aware multi-hop routing and an adaptation controller. Open research issues are also highlighted.},
        keywords = {Wireless Sensor Networks, Energy Efficiency, Clustering, Cluster Head Selection, Routing Protocols, Network Lifetime, Adaptive Framework.},
        month = {October},
        }

Cite This Article

S, K., & Prabaharan, P. (2026). AN ADAPTIVE ENERGY-EFFICIENT CLUSTERING AND ROUTING FRAMEWORK FOR WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology (IJIRT), 13(5), 3855–3864.

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