Energy-efficient clustering design for M2M communications

Machine-to-machine (M2M) communications in cellular networks enables Internet of Things in the macro geographical regions and is a promising technique in next-generation wireless networks. In this paper, we study energy-efficient clustering design in cellular networks to maximize the overall network battery life time. We propose a new clustering design which finds the optimal number of clusters in a cellular network, and maximizes the network energy efficiency, meanwhile rules of selecting and rotating cluster heads. Different from existing clustering designs, we consider both transmission and circuit energy consumption in this paper. The network performance will be both rigorously analyzed and evaluated using simulations with respect to dead device ratio [1], residual energy, and network life. The simulation results show that by using the proposed clustering approach, the network battery life can be improved significantly.