A New Clustering Algorithm Based on Rough Sets for Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) presented a new generation of real-time embedded systems with limited computation, energy and memory resources that are being used in a wide variety of applications where traditional networking infrastructure is infeasible. An appropriate clustering algorithm can make nodes in WSN choose an optimal path to communicate and drastically reduce the energy consumption, which enhances the performance and lifetime of the network. The traditional clustering algorithms didn't consider the uncertainty and vagueness of data in WSN. That's why communications between nodes were so inefficient and usually interrupted. The paper presented a new clustering algorithm, called CRSWSN for short. It based on the advantages of solving uncertain problems with rough sets theory. And it was also the first to combine with wireless sensor networks. The paper had analyzed the specific design methods in the way of the forming of cluster and the cluster head. The challenges and development prospects of rough sets and other relative subjects in the wireless sensor networks were finally proposed.