Enhanced Distributed Energy-Efficient Clustering (DEEC) Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks: A Modular Implementation and Performance Analysis

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are a component of various applications, including environmental monitoring and the Internet of Things (IoT). Energy efficiency is one of the significant issues in WSNs, since sensor nodes are usually battery-powered and have limited energy resources. The Enhanced Distributed Energy-Efficient Clustering (DEEC) protocol is one of the most common methods for improving energy efficiency and network lifespan by selecting cluster heads according to residual energy. Nevertheless, standard DEEC methods are limited in dynamic environments because of their fixed nature. This paper presents a novel modular implementation of the DEEC protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks, addressing the limitations of the standard DEEC in dynamic and heterogeneous environments. Unlike the typical DEEC protocol, the proposed approach incorporates realistic energy models, supports heterogeneous nodes, implements load balancing, and enables dynamic cluster head selection Numerical simulations in MATLAB^® demonstrate that the improved DEEC protocol achieves a 133% longer stability period (first node death at 1166 rounds vs. 472 rounds), nearly doubles the network lifetime (4000 rounds vs. 2111 rounds), and significantly enhances energy efficiency compared to the standard DEEC. These results verify the effectiveness of the proposed enhancements, making the protocol a robust solution for modern WSN and IoT applications.