Reducing energy consumption and prolonging lifetime of the networks are important targets of wireless sensor networks.Clustering scheme is an effective technique to achieve this goal.Aimed at the rectangular sensor networks

a layer-based unequal clustering algorithm is proposed.The width of the layers can be computed according to nodes energy consumption

the energy consumption of the networks can be balanced effectively.The unequal clustering algorithm is compared with LEACH.Simulation results show that layer-based unequal clustering algorithm can better implement energy consumption balance and effectively extend the lifetime of the networks.