A Reliable Clustering algorithm for data gathering and transmmision in wireless sensor networks

In wireless sensor networks, the data-centric sensing task focuses more on the data reliability. In this paper, a reliable clustering algorithm RCVC (reliable clustering using virtual cluster-head) is proposed. It provides multipath for nodes in the network by using a set of redundant cluster-heads which are marked with a unique virtual identification. When the active cluster-heads fail, according to a certain strategy, our algorithm repairs the communication failures by selecting a backup node from the set of redundant cluster-heads. Simulation results show that RCVC can effectively reduce the influence of cluster-head failure on the performance of algorithm and improve the reliability of communication in the network.