A Multi-Objective Optimization Framework for Cluster-Based Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor nodes are battery-powered communication devices. Their limited capabilities have imposed various constraints to the system design of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). These constraints are interrelated, and are usually in conflict with each other. Clustering is often used to reduce energy consumption in WSNs. However, an arbitrary selection of clustering parameters may lead to severe degradation in other aspects, such as extra delays in data collection processes (DCPs). In this paper, a multi-objective optimization (MOO) framework for cluster-based WSNs is proposed. The proposed framework considers both the energy consumption and the duration of a DCP as its objective functions. Simulation results show that networks optimized using the proposed framework can obtain reasonable trade-offs between the two objectives. Nevertheless, the networks optimized using the proposed framework can obtain non-dominated solutions that cannot be achieved by using energy-aware clustering algorithms.