Energy-Aware Multilevel Clustering Scheme for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks

The expansion of wireless sensor networks in the underwater environment resulted in underwater wireless sensor networks. It has dramatically impacted the research arena because of its widespread and real-time applications. But successful implementation of underwater wireless sensor networks faces many issues. The primary concern in the underwater sensor network is sensor nodes’ energy depletion problem. In this paper, to improve the lifetime of the underwater wireless sensor network, an Energy-Aware Multi-level Clustering Scheme is proposed. The underwater network region is considered 3D concentric cylinders with multiple levels. Further, each level is divided into various blocks, representing one cluster. The proposed algorithm follows vertical communication mode from the sea bed to the surface area in a bottom-up fashion. Multiple levels with varying heights overcome the communication issues due to high water pressure towards the sea bed. Simulations are carried out to show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, which performs better in terms of a prolonged network lifetime and average residual energy. The simulation result shows significant improvement in the network lifetime compared with current algorithms.