Improving Decision-Making for Fuzzy Logic-based Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks

The task of routing data from a source node to the base station is a critical issue in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Fuzzy logic is the main proposal of a number of papers in the literature as an effective method for making decisions to transfer data towards the destination. Although fuzzy logic has a very important role in designing routing protocols for WSNs, identifying its fuzzy sets and defining best possible rules is a complex challenge. This paper introduces Improved-fuzzy logic (I-fuzzy), a simple and effective method that helps to address the weakness of fuzzy logic in terms of defining rules. The I-fuzzy method is tested in several scenarios by using GloMosim simulator and compared to a classic fuzzy logic approach and to a traditional minimum hop routing. The results show that the I-Fuzzy method outperforms the other approaches in terms of data delivery, energy conservation and load distribution.