Effect of optimal cluster head placement in MANET through multi objective GA

Ad-hoc network refers to a wireless network comprising of non-stationary nodes, which autonomously collaborate between themselves for transmitting communication. Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are a subclass, where the nodes feature topological limitation in creating contact with the outside world. Replenishment of energy in WSN is usually not possible due to inhospitable environment. Accordingly, activity switching and clustering are two major approaches adopted for energy conservation and prolonging lifetime in MANETs. For large networks, soft computing has been repeatedly proven to achieve near to optimal solutions in routing and clustering problems. A genetic algorithm based approach towards efficient election of cluster heads has been proposed. The objective functions targeting optimal selection and placement of cluster centers has been derived. The problem is genetically encoded and standard multi-objective genetic algorithm is used for evaluation. Subsequent results and comparative discussion is provided.