Aqeel Siddiqui and Ravi Prakash, Modeling, Performance Measurement, and Control of Clustering Mechanisms for Multi-cluster Mobile Ad Hoc Networks 1 Modeling, Performance Measurement, and Control of

Mobile ad hoc networks consist of mobile nodes communicating with each other without a fixed network infrastructure. The nodes create a multihop network, which changes its topology dynamically. One of the approaches for routing is to organize the network as clusters of nodes. Some nodes assume the role of clusterhead, thus playing a more active role in keeping track of the topology and feasible routing paths. The role of clusterhead is a temporary role, which changes dynamically, as the topology or other factors affecting it, change. There are some existing mechanisms for cluster formation, e.g. node-id based, and degree-based, each focusing on a particular characteristic of the network. We present a unified mechanism for cluster formation, which not only encompasses existing mechanisms, but also provides means to explore new mechanisms. We also present a method of measuring various performance characteristics, e.g. load distribution, and stability, of a mobile ad hoc network. The comparison of the performance characteristics of the existing clustering mechanisms with the new mechanisms under the unified approach show that the unified approach provides a better control of the performance. It is also shown that the clusterhead load distribution and the stability of the clustering mechanisms are inversely proportional to each other