The Optimal Number of Clusters in a Wireless Sensor Network

Abstract

In LEACH (low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy) protocol architecture, the optimal number of clusters in a wireless sensor network is obtained by an ideal energy model. However, the ideal energy model assumes that the distance from a sensor to its cluster head is a fixed value and that the distance from a cluster head to the base station is the same value. As a result, the optimal number of clusters obtained by the ideal energy model is different from that obtained by the simulation results of a real network. In this paper, to obtain an accurate optimal number of clusters in a wireless sensor network, we modify the ideal energy model to become a modified energy model by including two modification parameters. Computer simulation results show that the optimal number of clusters computed by our modified energy model is very close to that of a real network.