An availability predictive trust factor‐based semi‐Markov mechanism for effective cluster head selection in wireless sensor networks

Abstract

Summary The longevity of the sensor networks purely depends on the effectiveness of a cluster head selection process that attributes towards effective network management in wireless sensor networks. However, the majority of the cluster head selection schemes are considered an unrealistic condition which ponders the sensor nodes that have the possibility of being selected as cluster heads are highly energy competitive and trustworthy. In this paper, an availability predictive trust factor‐based semi‐Markov mechanism (APTFSMM) was proposed for facilitating effective cluster head selection with the view to enhance its degree of longevity degree in wireless sensor networks. This proposed APTFSMM inherited the merits of semi‐Markov process for estimating availability predictive trust factor that quantifies the maximum likelihood probability under which it is selected as the cluster head through maximized exploration of multiple transition states of the sensors in the networks. This proposed APTFSMM is determined to be predominant in enhancing the lifetime of the sensor network by 31% with a significantly reduced energy consumption rate of 38% compared with the benchmarked cluster head selection approaches considered for investigation.