A Mobility Tolerant Cluster Management Protocol with Dynamic Surrogate Cluster-Heads for a Large Ad Hoc Network

Abstract

It is not a trivial job to maintain clusters in a highly mobile ad hoc scenario where changes in node activity status cause frequent and unpredictable topological changes. It requires continuous and efficient management protocol for frequent up-dation and re-clustering which are costly in a resource-poor environment. In this context, we describe a convenient cluster management protocol that incurs very little communication overhead for maintaining a stable cluster structure. Our protocol defines a geographical boundary for each cluster using GPS information that enables the mobile nodes to get alarmed while crossing the cluster boundary. Here a cluster-head is also free to leave the cluster after delegating the leadership to a member-node, which will then act as a surrogate cluster-head of the cluster. The simulation results indicate that this mechanism reduces as much as 30% of the overhead traffics involved in cluster maintenance.