CHEFC: Cluster Head Election with Full Coverage in Wireless Sensor Networks

This article aims to deal with the purposeful election of the cluster head(Leader) in the Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). The basic protocol to choose the cluster head(CH) in such networks is LEACH (low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy) which somehow will realize the election of CH in the network and needs no program for full coverage of the CH. This article by introducing a new protocol called CHEFC (Cluster Head Election Full Coverage) is able to tackle with the problem of CH vacancy in the different parts of the network. The function of this protocol is as follows: each sensor should usually have a CH in it vicinity, and unlike the previous protocol, there is no need for each sensor spends more energy to be connected with its own CH located in a farther distance. This protocol which acts on a distributed basis will lengthen the lifetime of the wireless sensor network as well as fully covering the CH in the network. In addition, after simulation and comparison based on LEACH protocol, it was clearly observed that CHEFC protocol has a higher conductivity which means the higher number of the CHs in each round of the network activity as compared with previous protocol.