Clustering Algorithms for Wireless Sensor Networks: A Review

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have many applications in military services, health centers, industries as well as home surveillances. In such networks energy efficiency of nodes and life time of network are main concerns. Different clustering approaches are used to efficiently optimize the energy of sensor nodes. Clustering also improves the scalability of sensor nodes. We reviewed different approaches of clustering which are centralized, distributed and hybrid used in Sensor Networks. Recently there have been many researches on developing algorithms using equal and unequal clustering techniques. These techniques use residual energy of nodes and distance to base station as parameters for selecting cluster heads. This paper aims to examine various distributed and hybrid clustering algorithm as on date reported by different authors actively working in this area. We also briefly discuss the operations of these algorithms, as well as compare on the basis of various clustering attributes.