Joint Clustering and Routing Design for Reliable and Efficient Data Collection in Large-Scale Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

For data collection in large-scale wireless sensor networks (WSNs), dynamic clustering provides a scalable and energy-efficient solution, which uses cluster head (CH) rotation and cluster range assignment algorithms to balance the energy consumption. Nevertheless, most existing works consider the clustering and routing as two isolated issues, which is harmful to the connectivity and energy efficiency of the network. In this paper, we provide a detailed analysis on the relations between clustering and routing, and then propose a joint clustering and routing (JCR) protocol for reliable and efficient data collection in large-scale WSN. JCR adopts the backoff timer and gradient routing to generate connected and efficient intercluster topology with the constraint of maximum transmission range. The relations between clustering and routing in JCR are further exploited by theoretical and numerical analyses. The results show that the multihop routing in JCR may lead to the unbalanced CH selection. Then, the solution is provided to optimize the network lifetime by considering the gradient of one-hop neighbor nodes in the setting of backoff timer. Theoretical analysis and simulation results prove the connectivity and efficiency of the network topology generated by JCR.