Critical analysis of clustering algorithms for wireless sensor networks

Abstract

The scientific and industrial community increased their attention on wireless sensor networks (WSNs) during the past few years. WSNs are used in various critical applications like disaster relief management, combat field reconnaissance, border protection, and security observation. In such applications a huge number of sensors are remotely deployed and have cooperatively worked in unaccompanied environments. The disjoint groups are formed from these sensor nodes and such nonoverlapping groups are known as clusters. Clustering schemes have proven to be effective to support scalability. In this paper, authors have reported a detailed analysis on clustering algorithms and have outlined the clustering schemes in WSNs. We also make a comparative analysis of clustering algorithms on the basis of different parameters like cluster stability, cluster overlapping, convergence time, failure recovery, and support for node mobility. Moreover, we highlight the various issues in clustering of WSNs.