An Energy-Efficient Clustering Using a Round-Robin Method in a Wireless Sensor Network

The routing algorithm used in the wireless sensor network features the clustering method to reduce the amount of data transmission from the energy efficiency perspective. However, the clustering method results in high energy consumption at the cluster head node. Dynamic clustering is a method used to resolve such a problem by distributing energy consumption through the re-selection of the cluster head node. Still, dynamic clustering modifies the cluster structure every time the cluster head node is re-selected, which causes energy consumption. In other words, the dynamic clustering approaches examined in previous studies involve the repetitive processes of cluster head node selection. This consumes a high amount of energy during the set-up process of cluster generation. In order to resolve the energy consumption problem associated with the repetitive set-up, this paper proposes the round-robin cluster header (RRCH) method that fixes the cluster and selects the head node in a round-robin method The RRCH approach is an energy-efficient method that realizes consistent and balanced energy consumption in each node of a generated cluster to prevent repetitious set-up processes as in the LEACH method. The propriety of the proposed method is substantiated with a simulation experiment.