Enhancement of cellular networks via an improved clustering technique with D2D communication for mission-critical applications

In disasters, whether natural or man-made, establishing a wireless network to recover the damaged or destroyed cellular network infrastructure is very important to save lives. Network throughput and power consumption are critical factors when designing such a wireless network. It is essential to ensure that the network can connect all people with the optimum ability to handle information traffic while utilizing less energy. The conventional clustering (CC) technology with D2D communication has enhanced the efficiency and power consumption of a wireless network. In disaster circumstances, however, using CC continues to be a challenge in ensuring that all user devices (UEs) can join the cluster. In this respect, this paper presents an approach termed Cluster Formation and Cluster Head Selection (CFACHS) to ensure that all UEs in the area affected have joined a cluster. CFACHS also targets enhancing the wireless network performance in terms of its throughput and power consumption. CFACHS partitions each cluster into two groups named Main Cluster (MC) with its Main Cluster Head (MCH) and a Sub-Cluster (SC) with its Sub-Cluster Head (SCH). In order to route the information, an algorithm named MCHs multi-hop routing path has been developed and implemented. Extensive simulation experiments were conducted using MATLAB to compare the performance of CFACHS with CFACHS withoutSC and CC in terms of the network's capacity and power consumption. The results reveal that CFACHS was advantageous in minimizing network power consumption, increasing power efficiency by 27.97% and 25.54% sequentially. Also, CFACHS enhanced network capacity by 7.8125% and 11.875%, respectively.