An uneven cluster-based routing protocol for WSNs using a hybrid MCDM and max-min ant colony optimization

In energy-constrained wireless sensor networks (WSNs) composed of sensor nodes (SNs) characterized by multi-criteria contradictory with each other, it is still one of the challenges to be solved to figure out how to combine multi-criteria with each other and how to use an intelligent optimization (IO) algorithm for developing an optimal cluster-based routing protocol. In this article, we overture a new routing protocol based on uneven cluster using the hybrid FCNP-VWA-TOPSIS (FVT) and an improved max-min ant colony optimization (ACO). This scheme uses the hybrid FVT to perform the clustering, and uses an improved max-min ACO to configure a routing tree for the relay transmission of sensed data. The extensive simulation experiments have been carried out to show that the proposed scheme greatly prolongs the network lifetime (NL) by achieving an energy consumption balance superior to the previous schemes.