Connectivity and energy-aware clustering approach for wireless sensor networks

The wireless sensor network consists of large sensor nodes which are employed in a sensing environment. The sensor node with properties including small size, low cost and low power consumption is activated by batteries with limited electricity. Accordingly, it has become a critical issue to extend a network´s lifetime by effectively manipulating limited energy. For fewer isolated nodes, the change of a node´s connectivity should be considered apart from energy, that is, the node with high connectivity and energy is selected as the cluster head for moderating disadvantage of isolated nodes. In a large-scale sensor network, the clustering technique is one method for energy efficiency by reducing a single node´s loading during data transmission. In this study, we refer to a node´s connectivity and energy and provide a cluster-based method for reduction of energy consumed by sensor nodes with clusters´ field size dynamically adjusted in a changed network environment. As indicated in experimental results, our method improves a conventional wireless sensor network, for example, energy saving of nodes and extension of a network´s running time.