An Unequal Clustering Algorithm with Load Balance for Wireless Sensor Networks

摘要

Good clustering algorithm can effectively reduce the energy consumption of a wireless sensor network (WSN). The random in clustering will reduce the performance of clustering algorithm. Aiming at this problem, this paper proposes an unequal clustering algorithm with load balance (UCLB) for WSN. UCLB is a multi-hop algorithm and divides the nodes into clusters of different sizes. Considering the two objectives of load balancing and reducing energy consumption, UCLB elects cluster heads according to a cost parameter that is calculated by the number of around nodes and the distances to these nodes. UCLB preferentially select the node with moderate distances to the elected cluster heads as cluster head to distribute cluster heads evenly in networks. Simulation results show that the algorithm can effectively reduce the network energy consumption and prolong the network lifetime.