NMCA: Neighbour-aware multi-path clustering aggregation in wireless sensor networks

The paper presents a new in-network aggregation algorithm that improves cluster-head and multi-path aggregation in order to address the challenges of energy efficiency and data accuracy in WSNs. We propose a neighbour-aware multi-path clustering aggregation algorithm for data processing and transmission in the network (NMCA). In order to benefit from the advantage of both cluster-based and multi-path schemes, it is a hybrid approach that adaptively switches its data aggregation structure for optimal performance. Performance studies indicate that the proposed algorithm improves data throughput, improves packet receiving rate under the given loss rate and is also more efficient in terms of energy consumption.