Equal-Size Clustering for Irregularly Deployed Wireless Sensor Networks

This study examines the problem that sensors are irregularly deployed in a wireless sensor network (WSN). Such irregularity makes clustering protocols less efficient. This paper proposes a new clustering algorithm, called balanced clustering algorithm (BCA), for irregularly deployed WSNs. In BCA, each node determines the probability that the node itself becomes the cluster head (CH) by considering the sensing population, which is defined as the number of nodes within the sensing range of a node. As a result, the coverage area of each cluster is distributed almost equally and unused redundant nodes are turned into sleep mode. Therefore, the large deviation of the coverage areas of clusters in a network can be decreased and the unnecessary duplication of sensing and transmission can also be decreased. In addition, the inefficient energy consumption is reduced significantly because the sleeping nodes do not send duplicated information over high populated areas. According to the simulation, the proposed BCA reduces energy consumption, increases the network lifetime and distributes the detection area of each cluster evenly, compared to the conventional schemes.