Efficient Cluster-Based Self-Organization Scheme for Connectivity Control in Wireless Sensor Networks

—Despite progress made in recent years, cluster formation delay, load balancing, energy holes remain challenging for cluster-based topology control protocols. When, for energy efficiency purpose, one tries to address these problems simultaneously, one is confronted with latency, message overhead, and topological defects such as isolated Cluster Heads (CH), pairs of adjacent CHs etc. These unexpected outcomes are detrimental to both network capacity and lifetime. In this paper, we propose a fast cluster-based selforganization protocol that reduces time and energy wastes during cluster formation, minimizes the scope and frequency of cluster maintenance process, and mitigates energy holes in the sink’s two-hop neighborhood. Simulation results show that our contribution is able to quickly construct a good quality communication topology while enhancing network lifetime.