Cluster head election schemes for WSN and MANET: a survey

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is an arrangement of sensor nodes to collect environmental data and send it to Base Station (BS). Mobile Adhoc Networks (MANET) is a network composed of itinerant nodes via wireless links in deficiency of any infrastructure or topology. Nodes of WSN and MANET are divided into clusters to create a temporary infrastructure for the nodes. A cluster is supervised by a leader node called Cluster Head (CH). Purpose of CH is to maintain the list of affiliated nodes and commune with other cluster heads. CH election is a vital process in cluster based networks. Many parameters can be used for electing the node as a cluster head such as location, mobility, battery, throughput etc. Numerous techniques for selecting cluster head have been proposed by researchers, focusing on parameters. We present in this paper a wide taxonomy about Cluster Head Selection method in Wireless Sensor Networks. At the end of each section we have presented a comprehensive analysis of different methods.