Energy-aware distributed clustering algorithm for improving network performance in WSNs

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) consist of a large number of sensor nodes equipped with a diverse number of small and low-cost devices with limited resources, such as a short communication range, a low bandwidth, a small memory, and a restricted energy. In particular, among these constraint factors, a sensor node's energy consumption is a very important factor in extending a network's lifetime. Many researchers are focused on the energy efficiency of wireless sensor networks. Many clustering algorithms have been proposed to improve energy efficiency. However, most protocols in previous literature have the problem of not considering the characteristics of real applications, for example, forest fire detection, intruder detection, target tracking, and the like. In this paper, we propose an energy-efficient clustering algorithm that can respond rapidly to unexpected events with increased energy efficiency, because each sensor node detects events individually and creates clusters using a regional competition scheme. Simulation results show improved performance when our algorithm is used.