CRPD: a novel clustering routing protocol for dynamic wireless sensor networks

A wireless sensor network (WSN) consists of a large number of static or mobile, low-cost, and low-power sensor nodes. And energy is one of the most important factors that should be considered. In this paper, we propose clustering-based routing protocol for dynamic networks (CRPD) to reduce energy consumption and improve energy efficiency through clustering and routing algorithms. The basic idea is to periodically update the network topology and select the node with larger degree and high residual energy as the cluster head to be responsible for data aggregation and transmission. With the nodes moving, joining, and choosing the optimal clustering radius, the energy load of the whole network can be evenly distributed to each sensor node, which can significantly prolong the network lifetime. Extensive simulations show that CRPD is more energy-efficient than the existing protocols.