A Dynamic Clustering Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

In order to solve the problem of dynamic clustering for wireless sensor networks(WSN) triggered by target event, a dynamic clustering protocol, focusing on cluster head selection, cluster member solicitation and cluster reorganization, is proposed. In cluster head selection mechanism, the proposed selection approach takes the detected signal strength, residual energy of node and distance between the cluster head and the sink node into consideration. In cluster member solicitation, an adaptive method based on task requirement is proposed in terms of cluster range setting, through this method, the cluster size is constrained and the energy consumption of intra-cluster communication is reduced. The simulation results show that the proposed protocol can efficiently conserve energy and prolong the lifetime of WSN, especially when the sink node is located far from the network.