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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compeleceng.2009.03.008 Byline: Ali Chamam, Samuel Pierre Keywords: Wireless sensor networks; Clustering; Network lifetime; Distributed; Energy efficiency Abstract: Minimizing energy dissipation and maximizing network lifetime are among the central concerns when designing applications and protocols for sensor networks. Clustering has been proven to be energy-efficient in sensor networks since data routing and relaying are only operated by cluster heads. Besides, cluster heads can process, filter and aggregate data sent by cluster members, thus reducing network load and alleviating the bandwidth. In this paper, we propose a novel distributed clustering algorithm where cluster heads are elected following a three-way message exchange between each sensor and its neighbors. Sensor's eligibility to be elected cluster head is based on its residual energy and its degree. Our protocol has a message exchange complexity of O(1) and a worst-case convergence time complexity of O(N). Simulations show that our algorithm outperforms EESH, one of the most recently published distributed clustering algorithms, in terms of network lifetime and ratio of elected cluster heads. Author Affiliation: Department of Computer Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique of Montreal, C.P. 6079, succ. Centre-Ville, Montreal (QC), Canada H3C 3A7