A link- and hop-constrained clustering for multi-hop wireless sensor networks

The connectivity of radio frequency (RF) devices is usually limited by their predefined bandwidth. Due to stochastic selection of cluster heads, most wireless sensor networks (WSN) require cluster re-configuration protocols without connection and hop constraints. This paper proposes a connection-constrained real-time power-aware (ccWSN) clustering and routing method for multi-hop WSN with a connection bound for each sensor nodes (SN). Each data packet in the network is given a hop-count denoted as the deadline to arrive at base station (BS). ccWSN also controls the diameter of multi-hop clusters so as to derive appropriate clusters size and increase network lifetime. This static clustering method does not require re-configuration which would entail additional energy consumption and time overhead. For each cluster, a set of backup CHs will be selected and serve the cluster as a CH in turn. Simulations result shows that ccWSN increases network lifetime and improves load balance among SNs and CHs.