<![CDATA[Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) enable large-scale event monitoring; however, their performance is often constrained by low throughput. This study aims to develop a cluster-based routing protocol by implementing the multi-hopping clustering partition (MHCP) method. The MHCP process consists of three main stages: (i) cluster head (CH) selection, (ii) evaluation of node proximity to their respective CHs, and (iii) cluster partitioning to reduce intra-cluster variation. Four clusters were formed and interconnected through multi-hop communication, achieving throughput values of 142.0033, 244.1318, 119.0804, and 305.6159, respectively. In addition to the development of MHCP, the scientific contribution of this study is strengthened through the integration of the LEACH protocol and the K-means algorithm as a complementary methodological approach. LEACH improves energy efficiency through adaptive CH rotation, while K-means optimizes spatial node grouping. The combination of these methods ensures a balance between energy consumption and spatial proximity, resulting in improved throughput and extended network lifetime. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed MHCP protocol achieves higher throughput than the conventional LEACH protocol across all clusters while maintaining acceptable delay and packet loss. These findings confirm that the integration of multi-hop communication and cluster partitioning effectively enhances data transmission efficiency and overall network performance in WSNs.]]>
