title: A Power-Efficient Clustering Protocol for Coal Mine Face Monitoring with Wireless Sensor Networks Under Channel Fading Conditions.
abstract: This study proposes a novel power-efficient and anti-fading clustering based on a cross-layer that is specific to the time-varying fading characteristics of channels in the monitoring of coal mine faces with wireless sensor networks. The number of active sensor nodes and a sliding window are set up such that the optimal number of cluster heads (CHs) is selected in each round. Based on a stable expected number of CHs, we explore the channel efficiency between nodes and the base station by using a probe frame and the joint surplus energy in assessing the CH selection. Moreover, the sending power of a node in different periods is regulated by the signal fade margin method. The simulation results demonstrate that compared with several common algorithms, the power-efficient and fading-aware clustering with a cross-layer (PEAFC-CL) protocol features a stable network topology and adaptability under signal time-varying fading, which effectively prolongs the lifetime of the network and reduces network packet loss, thus making it more applicable to the complex and variable environment characteristic of a coal mine face.
authors.affiliation: School of Information &amp; Electrical Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China. pren@cumt.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: School of Information &amp; Electrical Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China. qianjsh@cumt.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jiansheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qian
keywords: WSNs; channel fading; clustering; cross layer; power-efficient