Energy efficient clustering algorithm for data aggregation in wireless sensor networks

Energy problem is a key issue for Wireless Sensor Network. It's a good idea to select a head node for data aggregation to reduce the energy of data transmission. However, many algorithms don't consider the whole integrated network situation for head node selection. An energy efficient clustering algorithm for data aggregation is proposed in this paper. The cluster header is selected by considering node's residual energy as well as the distance between this node and its neighbors. Furthermore, a type of data aggregation tree is constructed with the help of the clusters to reduce the amount of data transmission which effectively extends the network lifetime. Simulation results show that this method obtains satisfactory performance on prolonging the networks lifetime.