A scalable and adaptive clustering scheme for MANETs

Abstract

Clustering has evolved as an important research topic in MANETs as it improves the system performance of large MANETs. Most existing schemes have large overhead associated with cluster formation and cluster maintenance. They also trigger reclustering periodically. This renders these schemes non-scalable. In this paper, we present a clustering scheme that minimizes message overhead for cluster formation and maintenance. We do not require reclustering as clusters in our scheme do not degenerate into single node clusters over time. We simulated our clustering scheme in ns-2. The results show that the number of clusters formed are in proportion to the number of nodes in the MANET. We also show that our scheme is resilient to variations in mobility. This shows that our scheme is scalable as well as adaptable. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.