A Clustering Algorithm Considering on a Hierarchical Topology's Stability for Ad Hoc Networks

In large scale MANETs, centerless clustering algorithms need to reduce topology and routing maintenance overheads by constructing a stable hierarchical topology. So attention should be focused on topology’s stability. At present, attentions are paid to the innercluster topology’s stability, but the intercluster topology’s stability is neglected. Therefore, we propose a fully distributed clustering algorithm for MANETs in which both the innercluster topology’s stability and the intercluster topology’s stability are concerned. The main objectives of this algorithm consist in stabilizing the topology as a long time as possible and in further reducing the topology and routing maintenance overheads. For a better comprehension of our algorithm, an explanatory example is given. To compare our algorithm to lowest ID based mobile clustering algorithm, a simulation is studied. The conclusion shows that:our algorithm is more favorable to the topology’s stability and reduces network overheads a lot, which improves the network performance.