Distributed clustering algorithms for data-gathering in wireless mobile sensor networks

One critical issue in wireless sensor networks is how to gather sensed information in an energy-efficient way since the energy is a scarce resource in a sensor node. Cluster-based architecture is an effective architecture for data-gathering in wireless sensor networks. However, in a mobile environment, the dynamic topology poses the challenge to design an energy-efficient data-gathering protocol. In this paper, we consider the cluster-based architecture and provide distributed clustering algorithms for mobile sensor nodes which minimize the energy dissipation for data-gathering in a wireless mobile sensor network. There are two steps in the clustering algorithm: cluster-head election step and cluster formation step. We first propose two distributed algorithms for cluster-head election. Then, by considering the impact of node mobility, we provide a mechanism to have a sensor node select a proper cluster-head to join for cluster formation. Our clustering algorithms will achieve the following three objectives: (1) there is at least one cluster-head elected, (2) the number of cluster-heads generated is uniform, and (3) all the generated clusters have the same cluster size. Last, we validate our algorithms through an extensive experimental analysis with Random Walk Mobility (RWM) model, Random Direction Mobility (RDM) model, and a Simple Mobility (SM) model as well as present our findings. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.