Adaptive Unequal Clustering Using an Improved LEACH Protocol with Energy Balance

Aiming at the irrational size of LEACH protocol cluster and the imbalance of network energy consumption, an energy-equalized unequal clustering routing protocol is proposed. By introducing the energy decision factor and the density decision factor of node, the proposed method improves a threshold calculation formula of candidate cluster heads, and it is more likely that the nodes with more residual energy and more neighbor nodes become candidate nodes. The candidate cluster heads are elected to become the real cluster heads according to a certain competition radius. Since we consider the influence of the number of cluster heads and the distance between the nodes and the base station on the network energy consumption when determining the competition radius, then, the algorithm can divide the nodes into clusters of different sizes and make the size of the cluster close to the base station smaller, thereby effectively solving the "hot spots" problem. Finally, the number of cluster heads and the cluster head distribution are more reasonable. The simulation results show that the improved algorithm can effectively balance the network consumption and prolong the network life cycle.