A power-based clustering algorithm for wireless ad-hoc networks

Energy saving, despite recent advances in extending battery life, is still an important issue in wireless ad hoc networks. An often adopted method is power management, which can help in reducing the transmission power, consumption and thus can prolong the battery life of mobile nodes. In this paper, we present a new approach of power management for the wireless ad-hoc networks. Firstly, we propose a clustering algorithm. The clustering algorithm is incooperated with power adjustment and energy-efficient routing procedure to achieve the goal of reducing the transmission power. We use clusterheads to monitor a mobile node's transmission power and to conduct the routing path between any source-destination pair. Not only the lifetime of network is increased but also the interference in communication channel is reduced. As a result, the transmission quality is improved and the network throughput is enhanced. By simulation, we showed that our algorithm outperforms the traditional clustering algorithm both in power saving and in throughput.