Energy-efficient Query-Driven Clustering protocol for WSNs on 5G infrastructure

Abstract

In the last decades, the low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy (LEACH) protocol has become one of the most prominent protocols in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Based on different application scenarios, researchers have come up with various modifications of the LEACH protocol, which are classified as clustering protocols. Nevertheless, in current clustering protocols, sensor nodes usually propagate messages over a large scale for cluster formation and discovering an optimal inter-cluster route, which consumes a large amount of energy. In this study, we introduce a Query-Driven Clustering (QDC) protocol to improve the energy efficiency in WSNs. The proposed QDC includes four sequential parts. Firstly, a size-balanced network partitioning algorithm is to split large-scale WSN into several small sub-networks with the help of 5G infrastructure. Secondly, an estimation-based mechanism aims to keep energy consumed in centralized sub-network information maintenance at a low level. Thirdly, in each sub-network, centralized query-driven clustering algorithms are introduced for clustering the query targets, which saves the high energy consumption for clustering nodes on a global scale. Lastly, as for inter-cluster routing in each sub-network, an energy-efficient and load-balanced routing scheme is developed. Through extensive experiments, QDC exhibits much higher energy efficiency and thus enhances the network lifetime, compared with other protocols in WSNs.