Kinetic minimum-power routing and clustering in mobile ad-hoc networks

We have previously developed a distributed routing algorithm which minimizes the number of overhead messages necessary to maintain the minimum-power multi-hop routes in a mobile ad-hoc network, assuming a piecewise linear model for the motion of the nodes. We extend the routing algorithm to include clustering as well, to reduce further the number of overhead messages at the expense of sub-optimal routes. A single parameter controls the degree of clustering, and consequently the degree of sub-optimality, rather than arbitrary parameters such as maximum cluster size or maximum distance between nodes. The proposed algorithm converges in a finite number of iterations to both stable routes and stable clusters, and by setting the cluster parameter to 0 collapses to the original routing algorithm with no clusters and optimum routes.