An improved cluster head selection algorithm using MAC layer information in wireless sensor network

Cluster based routing is an efficient way to improve the network lifetime of wireless sensor networks. Majority of cluster based routing protocols improved the low energy adaptive clustering hierarchy LEACH protocol either by energy load balancing or by selecting the higher residual energy nodes as cluster heads and by making cluster heads distribution uniform. In this paper, we propose an approach which makes cluster head count stable by using medium access control MAC layer information and also selects higher energy nodes as cluster heads. Simulation results show that this approach improves the first node death FND and half nodes alive HNA time by approximate 22% and 24% respectively over the LEACH, 11% and 18% for advance-LEACH ALEACH, 7% and 6% for low energy adaptive clustering hierarchy with deterministic cluster head selection LEACH-DCHS and 6% and 21% for LEACH with sliding window and dynamic number of nodes LEACH-SWDN, respectively.