Exclusive channel allocation methods based on four-color theorem in clustering sensor networks

Abstract

The effective use of energy efficiency is a big challenge in sensor networks, since sensor nodes have limited power and are deployed in inaccessible regions. Clustering on the sensor networks reduces the volume of inter-node communications and raises energy efficiency by transmitting the collected data from members by a cluster head to a sink node. Nevertheless, due to radio frequency characteristics in wireless communications, interference and collision can occur between neighboring clusters, leading to increased energy consumption due to the resulting re-transmission. The occurring of interference and collision channels among clusters can be resolved by assigning non-overlapping channels among neighbor clusters. In this paper, we propose an exclusive channel allocation method based on four-color theorem. This method assigns exclusive channels among neighbor clusters in various clustered topologies and makes nodes transfer data in collision free environments among clusters. The experimental results show successful assigning of exclusive channel among neighbors using the 4 number of channels in various cluster topologies.