A survey of energy-efficient clustering routing protocols for wireless sensor networks based on metaheuristic approaches

The increase in proposed clustering routing protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks has motivated the development of survey studies that provide quick access to clear and meaningful information about state-of-the-art approaches. This review focuses on the most recent clustering routing protocols for WSNs based on metaheuristic techniques. Since there is a lack of survey studies that provide a comprehensive analysis of this field, we present a more in-depth study of different metaheuristic-based strategies mainly for selecting optimal cluster heads. The primary objective of the proposed work is to review approaches that have developed novel cluster-based routing protocols primarily for reducing the energy consumption of WSNs. In this survey, we examine every protocol considering its methodology and properties from the perspective of the metaheuristic community. Additionally, we present a comparative analysis of the reviewed approaches regarding the implemented network structure, the network characteristics, the metaheuristic algorithm used, the proposed search strategy, reported metrics, and the obtained results.