HREF: a highest remaining energy first adaptive clustering algorithm for wireless sensor/mesh networks

Abstract

A simple mechanism to prolong the life cycle of the network by balancing nodes’ energy consumption is to rotate the active dominating set (DS) through a set of legitimate DSs. This paper proposes a novel adaptive clustering algorithm named HREF (Highest Remaining Energy First). In the HREF algorithm, cluster formation is performed cyclically and each node can declare itself as a cluster head autonomously if it has the largest residual energy among all its adjacent nodes. The performance effectiveness of the HREF algorithm is investigated and compared to the D-WCDS (Disjoint Weakly Connected Dominating Set) algorithm. In this paper, we assume the network topology is fixed and does not require sensor mobility. This allows us to focus on the impact of clustering algorithms on communication between network nodes rather than with the base station. Simulation results show that in the D-WCDS algorithm energy depletion is more severe and the variance of the node residual energy is also much larger than that in the HREF algorithm. That is, nodes’ energy consumption in the HREF algorithm is in general more evenly distributed among all network nodes. This may be regarded as the main advantage of the HREF adaptive clustering algorithm.