An efficient weighted distributed clustering algorithm for mobile ad hoc networks

Clustering approach is an important research topic for MANETs and widely used in efficient network management, hierarchical routing protocol design, network modeling, Quality of Service, etc. Many researchers´ recent focus has been on clustering management which is one of the fundamental problems in mobile ad hoc networks. The main objective of clustering in mobile ad-hoc network environments is how can an optimal clusterhead be elected and how can the optimal number of clusters be achieved through division without degrading the whole network´s performance. In this paper, we propose new weighted distributed clustering algorithm, called CBMD. It takes into consideration the parameters: connectivity (C), residual battery power (B), average mobility (M), and distance (D) of the nodes to choose locally optimal clusterheads. The goals of this algorithm are maintaining stable clustering structure with a lowest number of clusters formed, to minimise the overhead for the clustering formation and maintenance and to maximise the lifespan of mobile nodes in the system. Simulation experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of our algorithm in terms of the number of clusters formed, reaffiliation count and numbers of clusterhead changes. Results show that our algorithm performs better than existing ones and is also tuneable to different kinds of network conditions.