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V-NRF-LEACH: An Energy-Efficient and Fault-Tolerant Clustering Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering
© 2026 by SSRG - IJECE Journal
Volume 13 Issue 1
Year of Publication : 2026
Authors : Yassine Kharchachi, Khalid Housni
10.14445/23488549/IJECE-V13I1P111
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How to Cite?

Yassine Kharchachi, Khalid Housni, "V-NRF-LEACH: An Energy-Efficient and Fault-Tolerant Clustering Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks," SSRG International Journal of Electronics and Communication Engineering, vol. 13,  no. 1, pp. 127-134, 2026. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23488549/IJECE-V13I1P111

Abstract:

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), composed of interconnected devices, are being deployed in industrial automation, smart infrastructures, and environmental monitoring applications. While the NRF-LEACH protocol improves network lifetime by maintaining a cluster structure across multiple rounds, its performance degrades when cluster heads fail prematurely, resulting in communication interruptions with the base station. To address this limitation, this paper offers a new variant, V-NRF-LEACH, which selects a Vice Cluster Head (VCH) based on residual energy to back up the main cluster head in case of failure to maintain continuous communication and minimize packet loss. Simulation results show that the proposed protocol significantly improves energy efficiency and network reliability compared to existing protocols and extends network lifetime. It increases the number of packets transmitted to the base station, which is important for efficient communication, by up to 35% compared to LEACH and 5% compared to NRF-LEACH.

Keywords:

WSN, LEACH, NRF-LEACH, NRF, V-NRF-LEACH.

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