Dynamic Layered Clustering Routing algorithm in Underwater Sensor Networks

To deal with the limitation that flat routing can hardly be accustomed to large scale Underwater Sensor Networks (USN), a new clustering routing algorithm Dynamic Layered Clustering Routing (DLCR) is proposed, which can be accustomed to larger scale networks. This algorithm divides the networks into several layers from top to bottom, and selects the nodes which have more remaining energy and shorter distance to sink as the cluster head nodes, thus, clusters' communication energy consumption are reduced. In order to avoid the same nodes being elected to be cluster head nodes continuously, a dynamic layered mechanism that the networks are divided into different layers in each circle of data gathering is proposed. The experiment shows that DLCR not only has a better stability, but also reduces the energy consumption and prolongs the lifetime of the whole networks.