Heterogeneous mobility and connectivity-based clustering protocol for wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have received significant research focus due to their widespread applicability in military, health care, agriculture, environment monitoring applications. These applications require WSNs to be self-organized and mobile. Clustering techniques are particularly important in the success of WSN implementations especially when sensor nodes are moving at different speeds. Many existing clustering algorithms assume that sensor nodes move at the same speed which is not true in many practical cases. Thus, in this paper, we introduce a velocity-based clustering algorithm and implement a relay placement technique in order to maintain seamless network connectivity. Simulation results show that the packet loss rate of the proposed algorithm is much lower than the existing LEACH and HEED clustering protocols.