BDCP: A backoff-based distributed clustering protocol for wireless sensor networks

Clustering is considered as an efficient technique for improving scalability and conserving energy of the sensor nodes to prolong the life time of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In this paper, we propose a new backoff based distributed clustering protocol, called BDCP for wireless sensor networks. The algorithm consists of two phases, namely cluster head (CH) selection and cluster formation. For energy saving, the proposed algorithm forms the clusters by taking care of proper distribution of the CHs, their residual energy and the intra-cluster distance. Performance of our protocol is validated by simulation results which show that the BDCP outperforms other well known clustering algorithms.