A survey on clustering algorithms for wireless sensor networks

The past few years have witnessed increased interest in the potential use of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in applications such as disaster management, combat field reconnaissance, border protection and security surveillance. Sensors in these applications are expected to be remotely deployed in large numbers and to operate autonomously in unattended environments. To support scalability, nodes are often grouped into disjoint and mostly non-overlapping clusters. In this paper, we present a taxonomy and general classification of published clustering schemes. We survey different clustering algorithms for WSNs; highlighting their objectives, features, complexity, etc. We also compare of these clustering algorithms based on metrics such as convergence rate, cluster stability, cluster overlapping, location-awareness and support for node mobility. (C) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.