A Cell Based Clustering Algorithm in Large Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy is one of most critical resources in wireless sensor networks. Clustering is an effective method to reduce energy consumption of sensor nodes. In this paper we propose a cell base clustering algorithm. The target field is divided into small non-overlapping cells. Sensor node set in each cell is a cluster. The size of cell is well selected so that any node in adjacent cell can communicate with each other. We also present a low-overhead cluster head electing algorithm and an optimal inter-clustering routing algorithm. We evaluate the performance of our proposed clustering algorithm with comparing to GAF algorithm. The numbers of clusters generated by the two algorithms are approximately equal. But the average length of inter-cluster communication path of our proposed algorithm is less than GAF algorithm. So the network lifetime by our proposed algorithm is longer.