Abstract: Existing wireless sensor network topology control algorithms have problems such as network topology link redundancy, excessive node load, bottleneck nodes, and short network life cycle in areas where sensor nodes are densely or sparsely deployed. Aiming at this problem, a potential game topology control algorithm based on region split and merge is proposed. The algorithm first divides the monitored target area and randomly sprinkles the sensor nodes, and performs a network topology game in each divided sub-area and selects the cluster head node. The idea of region splitting and merging is used to perform segmentation and game in dense node areas to prevent some nodes from being overload- ed, and weighted links in sparse node areas are used to do merging to prevent bottleneck nodes and guarantee the network connectivity. Then, a second potential game is implemented on all cluster head nodes to generate a cluster head topology to connect the sub-regions. Simulation results show that the algorithm can effectively alleviate node load, extend network life, and balance node energy consumption.

Key words: wireless sensor network, potential game, split and merge, topology control