Distributed Clustering in Ad-hoc Sensor Networks :

A Hybrid, Energy-Efficient Approach

HEED (Hybrid Energy Efficient Distributed Clustering)

Paper By

Ossama Younis and Sonia Fahmy

Department of Computer Sciences, Purdue University

Presentation By Deniz Özsoyeller

UBI532 - WSN Spring 2009 1

Contributions of HEED
HEED is a new energy-efficient approach for clustering nodes in
sensor networks.

Periodically selects cluster heads according to their residual energy and a

secondary parameter, such as node proximity to its neighbors or node
degree.

The clustering process terminates rapidly.

The protocol incurs low overhead in terms of processing cycles and

messages exchanged.

Achieves fairly uniform cluster head distribution across the network.

Considers cluster quality, e.g., load-balanced clusters or dense clusters.

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Sensor Networks Overview (1)
Sensor networks have recently emerged as an important computing
platform.

Sensor Nodes are usually:

Typically less mobile and more densely

deployed than mobile ad-hoc networks
(MANETs).

Limited in processing, memory, and

communication capabilities

Constrained in battery lifetime

Left unattended e.g., in hostile

environments, which makes it difficult
impossible to re-charge or replace their
batteries.

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Sensor Networks Overview (2)
Application - Specific, e.g.,

Monitoring physical or
environmental conditions, such
as temperature, sound,
vibration, pressure, motion or
pollutants.

Surveying military fields

Reporting radiation levels at

nuclear plants

Used in many civilian

application areas, including
environment and habitat
monitoring, healthcare
applications, fire detection

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Reasons Of Energy Consumption
Energy consumption in a sensor node can be due to either
“useful” or “wasteful” sources.

Useful energy consumption can be due to

 Transmitting/ receiving data, processing query requests, and
forwarding queries/data to neighboring nodes.

Wasteful energy consumption can be due to

 Idle listening to the media, retransmitting due to packet collisions,
overhearing, and generating/handling control packets.

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How To Reduce Energy Consumption ?
Due To Wasteful Sources ? Several MAC protocols attempt to reduce.

Due To Useful Sources ? A number of protocols have also been proposed to

reduce useful energy consumption.

These protocols can be classified into three classes :

First class controls the transmission power level at each node to increase
network capacity while keeping the network connected.
Second class makes routing decisions based on power optimization goals.
Third class decides which nodes should participate in the network operation
(be awake) and which should not (remain asleep) . (nodes require of
locations knowledge via GPS-capable antennae / message exchange).

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Topology management
Cell-based approach Cluster-based approach
observer

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How To Reduce Energy Consumption ? (2)
Hierarchical clustering techniques can aid in reducing useful energy
consumption.

Clustering is particularly useful for :

Applications that require scalability to hundreds or thousands of nodes.

(need for load balancing and efficient resource utilization.)

Applications requiring efficient data aggregation

Routing protocols

One-to-many, many-to-one or one-to-all (broadcast) communication.

For example, in many-to-one communication, clustering can support

data fusion and reduce communication interference.

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Clustering And Clusterheads
observer
The essential operation in sensor node
clustering is to :
 Select a set of cluster heads among the
nodes in the network.
 Cluster the rest of the nodes with these
heads.

Cluster heads are responsible for :

 Coordination among the nodes within CH CH
their clusters (intra-cluster coordination).
CH
 Communication with each other and/or
with external observers on behalf of their
clusters (inter-cluster communication).

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Network Lifetime
What Is Network Lifetime ?

Time until the first node / the last node in the network depletes its energy
(dies).
For example, in a military field where sensors are monitoring chemical
activity, the lifetime of a sensor is critical for maximum field coverage.

How To Prolong Network Lifetime ?

1. Reducing the number of nodes contending for channel access,

2. Summarizing network state information and updates at the cluster heads

through intra-cluster coordination,

3. Routing among cluster heads, which has a relatively small network diameter.

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Clustering Can Reduce The Communication Overhead

Clustering can reduce the

communication overhead for both
single-hop and multi-hop networks.

1. Sensors periodically transmit

information to a remote observer
(base station).

2. With clustering, nodes transmit

their information to their cluster
heads.

3. A cluster head aggregates the

received information and forwards
it over to the observer.

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Primary Goals Of HEED

1. Prolonging network lifetime by distributing energy consumption

2. Terminating the clustering process within a constant number of

iterations / steps,

3. Minimizing control overhead (to be linear in the number of Nodes)

4. Producing well-distributed cluster heads and compact clusters.

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HEED Assumptions
A set of n sensor nodes are dispersed uniformly and independently in a
rectangular field.

Sensor nodes are

1. quasi-stationary.
2. location-unaware, i.e. not equipped with GPS capable antenna.
3. equally significant (have similar capabilities (processing /
communication)).
4. left unattended after deployment.
5. Each node has a fixed number of transmission power levels.
6. The network serves multiple mobile/stationary observers, which
implies that energy consumption is not uniform for all nodes.

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No Assumptions Are Made About :

1. Homogeneity of node dispersion in the field,

2. Network density or diameter,

3. Distribution of energy consumption among sensor nodes,

4. Proximity of querying observers.

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HEED Requirements
1. Each node is mapped to exactly one cluster.

2. The node can directly communicate with its cluster head (via a single hop).

3. Clustering is completely distributed.

Each node independently makes its decisions based on local information.

1. Clustering terminates within a fixed number of iterations.

2. At the end of each TCP , each node is either a cluster head, or an ordinary
node that belongs to exactly one cluster.

3. Clustering should be efficient in terms of processing complexity and

message exchange.

4. Cluster heads are well-distributed over the sensor field.

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Approach
HEED is hybrid :
Clustering is based on two parameters

HEED is distributed :
Every node only uses information from its 1-hop neighbors (within
cluster range)

HEED is energy-efficient :
Elects cluster heads that are rich in residual energy

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Parameters For Electing Cluster heads
Primary parameter : residual energy (Er)
Goal : Prolong network lifetime
Used to select initial clusterheads

Secondary parameter : communication cost

Goal : Increase energy efficiency and further prolong network lifetime
Used to break ties i.e., maximize energy and minimize cost
A tie means that :
A node falls within the range of more than one cluster head or,
Two tentative cluster heads fall within the same range.
Is a function of cluster properties, such as
Cluster size
If each node is allowed to use the minimum power level to reach its
cluster head or if all intra-cluster communication must use the same
power level.
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Communication Cost Definitions
Cost Definitions

A node joins the AMRP A node joins the

CH with the min. (Average Min. CH with the max.
degree Reachability degree
Power)
Power : Fixed for Power : Fixed for
all nodes all nodes
Goal :
Goal : Goal :
For minimum
Load Distribution For dense clusters
intra - cluster
(Balancing) communication
energy
(AMRP) is the mean of the minimum power levels required by all M nodes within
the cluster range to reach CH “u”. (a good estimate for the communication cost)

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Probability Of Becoming A Cluster Head
Before a node starts executing HEED, it sets its probability of becoming a
cluster head, CHprob , as follows :

CHprob = Cprob * ( Er / Emax )

Cprob : Initial percentage of cluster heads among all N nodes (say 5%)

Eresidual : Estimated current residual energy in the Node

Emax : A reference maximum energy (corresponding to a fully charged

battery), which is typically identical for all nodes.

The CHprob value of a node is not allowed to fall below a certain threshold pmin
(e.g., 10−4)

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 HEED – Algorithm at node v
Discover neighbors within cluster range (Snbr )

I. Initialization Compute and broadcast cost to Snbr

Compute the initial cluster head probability
CHprob = max(Cprob * (Er/Emax ) , pmin )

II. Main Processing

If v received some cluster head messages, choose one
(Repeat)
head with min cost
If v does not have a cluster head, elect to become
a cluster head with CHprob .
CHprob = min(CHprob * 2, 1)
Repeat until CHprob reaches 1

III. Finalization If cluster head is found, join its cluster

Otherwise, elect to be cluster head

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HEED – Analysis (1)
HEED has the following lemmas :

Lemma 1 : HEED terminates in Niter = O(1) iterations

 Brief Proof :
 The worst case : low E
residual . Then CHprob = pmin . However, CHprob doubles
in every step, and phase II of the protocol terminates one step
(iteration) after CHprob reaches 1

Lemma 2 : At the end of phase III of the HEED protocol, a node is either a
cluster head or a regular node that belongs to a cluster.

Lemma 3 : HEED has a worst case processing time complexity of O(N) per
node, where N is the number of nodes in the network .
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HEED – Analysis (2)

Lemma 4 : HEED has a worst case message exchange complexity of O(1) per
node, i.e., O(N) in the network.

An ordinary node is silent until it sends one join message to a cluster

head.
The number of these join messages in the network is less than N, since
at least one node will decide to be a cluster head during the clustering
process.
Hence, the number of messages exchanged in the network is
upper-bound by Niter × N, i.e., O(N) since Niter is constant.

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HEED – Analysis (3)
Lemma 5 : The probability that two nodes within each other’s cluster range
are both cluster heads is small, i.e., cluster heads are well-distributed.

Consider the following worst case scenario :

Assume that v1 and v2 are two isolated neighboring nodes, each one does
not have any other neighbor in close proximity.

We compute the probability, pnbr, that at the end of phase III, both of
them are cluster heads (assume that they are fully synchronized).

Assume that neither of the two nodes decides to be a cluster head before
its CHprob reaches 1. Otherwise, one of them will concede to the other.

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Inter-Cluster Communication (1)
Rt : inter-cluster transmission range
Rc : the cluster transmission range

Lemma 6 : (Blough and Santi’02)

Assume n nodes are dispersed uniformly and independently in an area R=[0,L]2
Assume that the area is divided into square cells of size (Rc / √2) × (Rc / √2).
If Rc2n = aL2lnL, for some a > 0, Rc << L, and n >> 1, then
limn,N→ ∞E (number of empty cells) = 0, so each cell contains at least one
node

Rc / √2 Rc

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Rc / √2
Inter-Cluster Communication (2)
Lemma 7 : There exists at least one cluster head in any (2 + 1/√2) Rc ×
(2 + 1/√2) Rc area.

Lemma 8 : For any two cluster heads v1 and v2 in two neighboring areas A
and B of size (2+ 1√2) Rc × (2+ 1√2) Rc, v1 and v2 can communicate if
Rt ≥ 6 Rc.

2.7Rc CH2

2.7Rc

Rt

CH1

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Inter-Cluster Communication (3)
Theorem 1 :
HEED produces a connected multi-hop cluster head graph (structure)

Proof (by contradiction) : Assume previous 3 lemmas hold.

Assume that HEED produces two connected components (graphs) of cluster heads.
G1 = (V1,E1) and G2 = (V2,E2), such that any v1 ∈ V1 can not communicate with any
v2 ∈ V2.
Assume that V2 lies on the right of V1, and that a cluster head v1 ∈ V1 lies on the
rightmost border of V1.
v1 is able to communicate with a cluster head v2 on its right side, since the
condition in Lemma 8 holds.
v2 must reside inside V2, which contradicts with the initial assumption that a
Cluster head in one component cannot communicate with one in the other
component. Therefore, V1 and V2 are connected.

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Performance Evaluation (1)
Simulation Environment
1000 nodes uniformly spread across 2000 x 2000
Minimum probability for becoming a cluster head (pmin) - 0.0005
Initial CHprob = Cprob = 5% and Cluster radius – 25 to 400 m.
Residual Energy levels – 20 and # of Experiments – 100

Comparison with generic weight–based clustering protocols (GC) WCA, DCA,

etc. because
Distributed clustering only based on local information
Selected cluster heads with the highest weights (residual energy)
A node has only one cluster head
No assumptions about node dispersion field
Number of iterations is function of network diameter
Time and message complexities are O(N) and O(1)
Guaranteed that no two cluster heads are neighbor

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Performance Evaluation (2)
Number of iterations to terminate

Number of iterations in HEED can be deterministically computed using

Lemma 1, which is independent of the cluster radius.

For GC, the number of iterations grows quickly as the cluster radius
increases. (radius implies neigbors for each node )

GC takes only 3 iterations to terminate for a cluster radius of 25. The

number of iterations, however, grows to 85 for a cluster radius of 400.

HEED takes 6 iterations to terminate for all cluster ranges.

(Cprob = 5%, Eresidual is close to E max)

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 Clusterhead
Characteristics (1)
HEED cluster heads are
comparable to those selected by
GC in terms of number,
distribution, and energy
availability.

HEED cannot guarantee optimal

head selection in terms of
energy, since it uses the
secondary parameter to resolve
conflicts.

GC, a weight-based approach,

does guarantee that the highest
energy node will be the cluster
head within its cluster range.

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Clusterhead Characteristics (2)
If it is required to balance load on
cluster heads, then it is important to
have clusters with small variance in
the number of nodes they cover.

The maximum degree cost type and

GC show similar results.

For minimum degree cost, the

standard deviation is the lowest,
because ties are broken by joining the
smaller degree node, thus balancing
the cluster sizes.

AMRP results lie between the two

extremes. Therefore, AMRP provides a

compromise between load balancing

and cluster density. UBI532 - WSN Spring 2009 30
 Clusterhead
Characteristics &
Node Syncronization
HEED produces a higher
percentage of non-single node
clusters than GC for all cost types.

The maximum number of nodes in

a cluster in HEED is on the
average smaller than that of GC
for all cost types

Node synchronization is not

critical for the operation of HEED.
selected cluster heads in both
cases have comparable residual
energy.

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 Clustering
Applications
Use of HEED for
Energy efficient routing protocols
Efficient Data Aggregation
 Because prolonging network
lifetime is especially important
for unattended networks used
in environmental monitoring.

HEED vs. gen-LEACH

HEED clustering improves network
lifetime over gen-LEACH clustering
for all cost types.
HEED expends less energy in
clustering than gen-LEACH.
HEED prolongs network lifetime,
compared to gen-LEACH and to
direct communication.
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Conclusion And Future Work
Authors have proposed HEED clustering.

HEED is fast and has low overhead.

HEED can provide features such as load-balancing.
HEED is independent of :
Homogeneity of node dispersion in the field
Network density or diameter
Distribution of energy consumption among nodes
Proximity of querying observers

Future Work
Extend the protocol to multi-level hierarchies.
Cluster size constraints in HEED
Incorporate multiple external mobile observers into HEED.

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