On reconfiguration in case of node mobility in clustered wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks are expected to be one of the key enabling technologies in the next 10 years. Protocols for such networks should be highly flexible in order to adapt to topology changes due to node mobility. In this article we focus on strategies for management of node mobility in clustered wireless sensor networks based on IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee standards. Taking into account that modification of the cluster structure leads to performance degradation of the network reconfiguration strategies, help in avoiding long reconnection times or missing connections is required. In our work we propose a combination of proactive and reactive reconfiguration strategies to reorganize clustered structures with node mobility, leading to increased connectivity, faster reconnection times after connection loss, and building energy-efficient compact cluster-tree topologies.