Clustering in Wireless Sensor Network

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is the study of the clustering process in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), starting with clarifying why there are different clustering protocols for WSN by stating and briefly describing some of the variate features in their design; these features can represent questions the clustering protocol designer asks before the design, and their brief description can be considered probabilities for these questions’ answers to represent design options for the designer. The designer can choose the best answer to each design question or, in better words, the best design options that will make its protocol different from the others and make the resultant clustered network satisfies some requirements for improving the overall performance of the network. The chapter also mentions some of these requirements. The chapter then gives illustrative examples for these design variations and requirements by studying them on three well-known clustering protocols: Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH), Energy-Efficient Clustering Scheme (EECS), and Hybrid, Energy-Efficient, Distributed clustering approach for ad-hoc sensor networks (HEED).