Mobile ad hoc network consists of a group of mobile nodes that can communicate with each other without any infrastructure. Clustering of the mobile nodes ensures efficient use of available bandwidth and high network throughput. Various clustering schemes are developed to improve the energy efficiency and lifetime of the network. However, there is an increase in the energy consumption with the increase in the number of clusters for forwarding data. This paper presents an energy-efficient clustering approach for collaborative data forwarding in mobile ad hoc network. The cluster head (CH) is selected based on the processing capability of the nodes and link connection metrics. The CH receives the data from the server and forwards the data to the member nodes at a corresponding data rate of the nodes. Data offloading technique manages the data traffic in the network. The CH rejoining approach enables load balancing in the network. The proposed clustering approach achieves a significant reduction in the energy consumption and data traffic and improvement in the throughput rate through stable routing.KEYWORDS clustering, collaborative data forwarding, data offloading, data traffic management, mobile ad hoc network (MANET)
| INTRODUCTIONMobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a self-configuring network of mobile nodes that are connected through wireless links. In this type of network, each device acts as a host as well as a router. Moreover, it can be quickly deployed and reconfigured, even the communication infrastructure is unavailable. The MANET faces many challenges such as the mobility of the hosts, dynamic topology, multi-hop transmission, limited bandwidth, and battery power. Figure 1 shows the heterogeneous MANET architecture that includes various mobile devices with diverse communication capabilities. The range of radio communication, battery lifetime, and the data transmission rate are the major communication capabilities. The limited amount of mobile devices participation in heterogeneous network has the lowest communication capabilities. The important consideration to construct the heterogeneous MANET is the minimum power consumption and improves the lifetime of the network. The assignment of routing load to the powerful nodes with the necessary communication capabilities depends on the heterogeneity nature. The main focus in the design of the ad hoc networks is the development of a dynamic routing protocol to find an efficient communication path between 2 nodes. For energyefficient routing and organized data communication, the network is distributed into controllable entities called as clusters. Inside the cluster, the node that coordinates or controls the cluster activities is called as cluster head (CH). The CH provides all the services to the other nodes. Rest of the nodes in the cluster is known as cluster member nodes.Each member node has direct access to the CH to forward the data to the CH. The CH forwards the data from the