A survey on clustering techniques for cooperative wireless networks

Clustering became relevant in the past as a solution for the scalability problems of ad hoc networking, but, the unsuccessful application of ad hoc solutions to real scenarios, such as the projects SURAN and PRNet, decreased the interest of research community on ad hoc communications, and subsequently, on clustering algorithms. Recently, however, clustering techniques have gained renewed interest due to the emergence of cooperative communications for cellular networking. Clustering is envisaged, in this scenario, as a technique to team up nodes to support efficient data aggregation for energy saving, scalability and privacy among other benefits. Moreover, research on 5G networks also envisages a connected society, where everything and everyone will be connected under the umbrella of Internet of Everything (IoE). This novel communication paradigm has fostered new research on clustering, which has yielded novel and more advanced algorithms and applications. This article surveys the State-of-the-Art in clustering techniques and provides detailed descriptions of the basics of clustering and the latest novel ideas. Open issues, technical challenges and directions for future research are also outlined.