AEEC: An adaptive energy efficient clustering algorithm in sensor networks

Clustering sensor nodes is an effective technique to prolong the lifetime of wireless sensor networks. In this paper we investigate the impact of heterogeneity of nodes, in terms of their energy and data amount, and propose a novel adaptive, distributed, energy efficient clustering algorithm AEEC for wireless sensor networks, which better suits the heterogeneous sensor networks. Our approach elects cluster heads based on the node energy relative to that of whole network, which can employ energy more efficiently in heterogeneous networks. Simulation results show that AEEC can prolong the stable region of lifetime compared to the other clustering algorithm, and the average throughput is increased effectively.