General Clustering Framework in Wireless Sensor Networks

PhD Thesis Proposal Defence


Title: "General Clustering Framework in Wireless Sensor Networks"

by

Mr. Quanbin CHEN


Abstract:

Many applications in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) benefit from
organizing nodes into groups, called clusters, because clustering could
provide a convenient structure for the design of data aggregation,
routing and topology control algorithms. By classifying sensor network
applications into two categories - periodical monitoring applications and
event detection applications, I propose two general clustering
frameworks, K-hop clustering and dynamic clustering correspondingly.

I tackle three critical problems. First, it is straightforward that the
size of clusters should vary according to diverse applications. It is
essential to provide a general clustering framework which could provide
tailored cluster size. Second, I observe that unbalanced clusters would
dramatically decrease the network lifetime. I design an Evenly
Distributed Clustering (EDC) algorithm. Constrained by the maximum
cluster size K, EDC distributes clusters uniformly and minimizes the
number of clusters. Third, clustering framework is inevitable to
introduce some overhead. Particularly for infrequent event detection
applications, the maintenance cost is comparably high because of the
dynamic behaviors of wireless sensor networks. A dynamic clustering
scheme is proposed to generate clusters on demand without maintaining
clustering structure in the whole network. I intend to develop a fully
distributed protocol, Down-to-Top Election clustering (DTE), which
establishes local clusters efficiently with low delay. Analysis and
preliminary results demonstrate that the protocols are viable.


Date:     		Tuesday, 11 December 2007

Time:                   11:00a.m.-1:00p.m.

Venue:                  Room 3304
			lifts 17-18

Committee Members:      Prof. Lionel Ni (Supervisor)
                        Dr. Qian Zhang (Chairperson)
			Dr. Lei Chen
			Dr. Ke Yi


**** ALL are Welcome ****