Clustering in ad hoc Personal Network formation

Personal Network (PN) is a user-centric concept to realize the interconnection of the users' various devices and networks, such as home networks, corporate networks and vehicle area networks, at any time and any place. These networks may be geographically separated from each other and are usually organized in an ad hoc fashion, where the devices in one network can share content, data, applications and resources with each other, and communicate with the outside world. Clustering for personal networks intends to organize these ad-hoc networked heterogeneous devices into hierarchical clusters. A new clustering scheme, Personal Network Clustering Protocol (PNCP), is proposed for PNs and compared with clustering algorithms in the literature in terms of various performance metrics. PNCP performs the cluster formation based on heterogeneity of. PNs in a distributed way, forms clusters with a moderate number of nodes, limits the cluster radius to k-hops, decreases the change in the cluster composition, extends the average membership time in the clusters providing stability and generates less overhead traffic. Though it was aimed for PNs, this protocol can also be used for any other heterogeneous ad hoc network for clustering.