Along with the advances of internet and communication technology, mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) and wireless sensor networks have attracted extensive research eRorts in recent years. In the past, Chatterjee et al. proposed an ecient approach, called the weighted clustering algorithm, to determine the cluster heads dynamically in mobile ad hoc networks. Wireless sensor networks are, however, a little diRerent from traditional networks due to some more constraints. Besides, in wireless sensor

more »

... tworks, prolonging network lifetime is usually an important issue. In this paper, an improved algorithm based on the weighted clustering algorithm is proposed with additional constraints for selection of cluster heads in mobile wireless sensor networks. The cluster heads chosen will act as the application nodes in a two-tired wireless sensor network and may change in diRerent time intervals. After a xed interval of time, the proposed algorithm is re-run again to nd new applications nodes such that the system lifetime can be expected to last longer. Experimental results also show the proposed algorithm behaves better than Chatterjee's on wireless sensor networks for long system lifetime.