Low Maintenance Clustering Protocols for Energy Efficient Communication in Sensor Networks

Abstract

Abstract newlineWireless sensor networks (WSNs) are deployed to monitor and detect events, or to track newlinethe movement of a target. In WSN, sensors cooperatively communicate their sensed newlinedata to a base station (BS) and they are expected to work autonomously for a long time newlinewith a finite source of energy. In some remote environments, the replenishment or replacement newlineof energy source of sensor is extremely difficult. Sometimes it is not even newlinepossible. Therefore, sensors must use their finite source of energy in an energy-efficient newlineway to enhance the lifetime of the network. After the deployment, the possible ways newlinethrough which sensors can reduce their energy consumption are: data aggregation, reduce newlinetransmission power and save idle time energy. To accomplish all these objectives, newlinetree, chain and cluster-based communication protocols have been proposed in the literature. newlineHowever, cluster-based protocols are widely used because they make the network newlinehighly scalable with less topology management overhead. newlineA cluster-based communication protocol divides all the nodes of the network into several newlinelocal clusters. In each cluster, there is a head node called a cluster head (CH) newlineand several member nodes called cluster members (CMs). The clustering protocols newlinecommunicate the data of sensors to the BS into rounds. Each communication round newlineis composed of two sub-phases: cluster setup and data-transmission. The setup phase newlineconsists mainly of clustering-related activities such as cluster-formation, CH-selection newlineand cluster membership. The data-transmission phase is related to the transmission of newlinesensor data to the BS. In each communication round, all members of a cluster transmit newlinetheir sensed data to a corresponding CH. After receiving the data from associated CMs, newlinethe CH aggregates the received data with its own data and transmits it to the BS. newlineIn clustering, balanced energy consumption is very important as it controls the frequency newlineof clustering and it has a huge impact on overall lifetime of the network. If newlineix newlinex newlinesome sensors dissipate en