Wireless communication apparatus and wireless communication method

A wireless communication apparatus which transfers information transmitted from a master node or information addressed to the master node, the wireless communication apparatus comprising:

• an assessment value generation unit configured to generate an assessment value representing logical proximity to the master node;
• an assessment value transmission and reception unit configured to transmit the generated assessment value to one or more other wireless communication apparatuses and receive assessment values from the one or more other wireless communication apparatuses by wireless communication;
• and
• a communication unit configured to
• when this wireless communication apparatus is a wireless communication apparatus that is logically closest to the master node among wireless communication apparatuses within a communication-enabled range, transmit information having the master node as a transmission source to other wireless communication apparatuses or receive information addressed to the master node from the other wireless communication apparatuses, and
• when a wireless communication apparatus that is logically closest to the master node is present other than this wireless communication apparatus among the wireless communication apparatuses within the communication-enabled range, transmit information addressed to the master node to the logically closest wireless communication apparatus or receive information having the master node as a transmission source from the logically closest wireless communication apparatus.