A Novel Enhanced Weighted Clustering Algorithm for Mobile Networks

Many applications of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) adopt hierarchical structure for the scalability and simplify of management. Clustering is the most popular method to impose a hierarchical structure in MANETs. As a newly proposed weighing based clustering algorithm, the weighted clustering algorithm (WCA) has improved performance compared with other previous clustering algorithms. However, the high mobility of nodes will lead to high frequency of re-affiliations which will increase the network overhead and minimize the network lifetime. To solve this problem, we propose an improved weight based clustering algorithm, namely enhanced weighted clustering algorithm (EWCA). The goals of the algorithm are maintaining stable clustering structure, minimizing the overhead for the clustering set up, maximizing lifespan of mobile nodes in the system, and achieving good end-to-end performance. Through simulations we have compared the performance of the proposed algorithm with that of WCA in terms of the number of clusters formed, number of re-affiliations, and the lifespan of the network. The results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed algorithm.