MPWCH: Multi-parameters weighted clustering hierarchy scheme for wireless ad hoc sensor networks

A wireless ad hoc sensor networks consisting of a large number of small sensors with low-power transceivers can be an effective tool for gathering data in a variety of environments. One obstacle is sensor node's limited supply of energy. Therefore, minimizing energy consumption and maximizing the wireless ad hoc sensor networks (WSNs) system lifetime have been a major design goal. In this paper, we propose a novel clustering algorithm named Multi-Parameters Weighted Clustering Hierarchy (MPWCH), which is specially tailored for periodical data gathering applications. For this approach, the cluster heads of each partition of the network are elected based on multi-parameters, such as ideal node degree, transmission power, node residual energy, nodes' location and relative distance to sink node. Such a scheme overcomes the unbalanced energy assignment discussed in previous works and tries to balance the load handled by the cluster heads. Simulation results have shown that MPWCH outperforms other protocols significantly in prolonging the network lifetime, having the cluster heads well distribution and is also tunable to different kinds of network conditions.