An Efficient K-hop Clustering Routing Scheme for Ad-hoc Wireless Networks

Abstract

Ad-hoc networks are wireless multihop networks without any base station. In ad-hoc networks, mobile host can move arbitrarily and no centralized management mechanism can be exerted. Under the limited resources such as network bandwidth, memory capacity, and battery power, the storage capability of network information among mobile hosts and the efficiency of routing schemes in ad-hoc wireless networks become more important than if traditional networks. Hierarchical structure can be implement by the clustering technique and is proposed to reduce the size of storage or the routing overhead. Most of the current clustering scheme are based on 1-hop structure. However, in the large scale networks, the superiority of 1-hop clustering schemes are no more evident. In this paper, we will propose a k-hop clustering routing algorithm which is a hybrid reactive/proactive routing scheme. Simulation results demonstrate our scheme gets the less number of clusters and is more stable when a topology changes. In addition, this algorithm also reduces the location search overhead and the cost of routing tables.