An energy-efficient and load-balanced dynamic clustering protocol for ad-hoc sensor networks

Intensive research in networking has fueled significant development in scale and diversity of networks such as wireless sensor networks and ad-hoc networks. It becomes difficult to design communication protocols for large-scale ad-hoc sensor networks. Node clustering is a key technique for extending the lifetime of a network by reducing energy consumption which can also increase network scalability. In this work, we propose an energy-efficient and load-balanced dynamic clustering protocol based on artificial bee colony (EBABC) which comprises of two parts. The first part is to determine the number of cluster heads based on the nodes' distribution and communication radiuses. The second is to select the cluster heads according to the residual energy, mobility, number of single-node cluster and distances to cluster heads from their member nodes and to the server from cluster heads. Regular nodes join the cluster head by considering the cluster size and communication radius. Simulation results demonstrate that the protocol can efficiently prolong the network lifetime and achieve load balance among the nodes.