P&;P: an asynchronous and distributed protocol for mobile sensor deployment

The use of wireless mobile sensors is of great relevance for a number of strategic applications devoted to monitoring critical areas where sensors can not be deployed manually. Mobile sensors can adapt their position on the basis of a local evaluation of coverage, thus permitting an autonomous deployment. Several algorithms have been proposed to deploy mobile sensors over an area of interest. The applicability of these approaches largely depends on a proper formalization of rigorous rules to coordinate sensor movements, solve local conflicts and manage possible failures of communications and devices. In this paper we introduce P&P, a communication protocol that permits a correct and efficient coordination of sensor movements in agreement with the Push & Pull algorithm. We deeply investigate and solve the problems that may occur when coordinating asynchronous local decisions in the presence of an unreliable transmission medium and possibly faulty devices such as in the typical working scenario of mobile sensor networks. Simulation results show the performance of our protocol under a range of operative settings, including conflict situations and irregularly shaped target areas. Furthermore, a performance comparison between the P&P protocol and one of the best solutions based on the virtual force approach, shows the superiority of our proposal in terms of deployment time, message exchanges and energy consumption.     

一种改进的虚拟力重定位覆盖增强算法

在移动无线传感网络(MWSN)的部署问题中最关键的是如何提供最大的区域覆盖范围。针对现有的覆盖控制算法存在覆盖率不理想、部署效率低、能耗过高的问题,该文提出了一种高效部署策略。第1阶段利用Voronoi图获得整个网络的覆盖孔,检测Voronoi多边形内的未覆盖区域,并提供虚拟力驱动传感器移动,同时采用动态调整策略改变移动步长,从而减少能量损耗;第2阶段提出一种检测机制,利用Delaunay三角网检测传感器之间的局部覆盖孔并进行修复。仿真结果表明,该算法在提高网络覆盖率的同时加快了收敛速度,为部署移动无线传感网络提供了新的解决思路。     

Deploying Wireless Sensor Networks under Limited Mobility Constraints

In this paper, we study the issue of sensor network deployment using limited mobility sensors. By limited mobility, we mean that the maximum distance that sensors are capable of moving to is limited. Given an initial deployment of limited mobility sensors in a field clustered into multiple regions, our deployment problem is to determine a movement plan for the sensors to minimize the variance in number of sensors among the regions and simultaneously minimize the sensor movements. Our methodology to solve this problem is to transfer the nonlinear variance/movement minimization problem into a linear optimization problem through appropriate weight assignments to regions. In this methodology, the regions are assigned weights corresponding to the number of sensors needed. During sensor movements across regions, larger weight regions are given higher priority compared to smaller weight regions, while simultaneously ensuring a minimum number of sensor movements. Following the above methodology, we propose a set of algorithms to our deployment problem. Our first algorithm is the optimal maximum flow-based (OMF) centralized algorithm. Here, the optimal movement plan for sensors is obtained based on determining the minimum cost maximum weighted flow to the regions in the network. We then propose the simple peak-pit-based distributed (SPP) algorithm that uses local requests and responses for sensor movements. Using extensive simulations, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithms from the perspective of variance minimization, number of sensor movements, and messaging overhead under different initial deployment scenarios.     

Coverage analysis for target localization in camera sensor networks

Camera sensor networks have recently emerged as a critical research topic. In this paper, we investigate the coverage problem for camera sensor networks. Specially, compared to the coverage problem for target detection which has been intensively studied, this paper studies the coverage problem from the perspective of target localization. We first propose a novel localization‐oriented sensing model based on the perspective projection of the camera sensors. Then, under the random uniform deployment strategy, we analyze how the probability of the localization‐oriented coverage (L‐coverage for short) changes with the sensors number and the parameters of the proposed sensing model. Finally, we conduct extensive simulations to validate our model and theoretical analysis about L‐coverage probability. The obtained results show that our scheme can be effectively applied for practical scenarios. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bidding Protocols for Deploying Mobile Sensors

Constructing a sensor network with a mix of mobile and static sensors can achieve a balance between sensor coverage and sensor cost. In this paper, we design two bidding protocols to guide the movement of mobile sensors in such sensor networks to increase the coverage to a desirable level. In the protocols, static sensors detect coverage holes locally by using Voronoi diagrams and bid mobile sensors to move. Mobile sensors accept the highest bids and heal the largest holes. Simulation results show that our protocols achieve suitable trade-off between coverage and sensor cost     

Distributed Sensor Networks Deployment Using Fuzzy Logic Systems

The effectiveness of distributed wireless sensor networks highly depends on the sensor deployment scheme. Given a finite number of sensors, optimizing the sensor deployment will provide sufficient sensor coverage and ameliorate the quality of communications. In this paper, we apply fuzzy logic systems to optimize the sensor placement after an initial random deployment. We use the outage probability due to co-channel interference to evaluate the communication quality. Fenton–Wilkinson method is applied to approximate the sum of log-normal random variables. Our algorithm is compared against the existing distributed self-spreading algorithm. Simulation results show that our approach achieves faster and stabler deployment and maximizes the sensor coverage with less energy consumption. Outage probability, as a measure of communication quality gets effectively decreased in our algorithm but it was not taken into consideration in the distributed self-spreading algorithm.     

Information coverage for wireless sensor networks

Coverage is a very important issue in wireless sensor networks. Current literature defines a point to be covered if it is within the sensing radius of at least one sensor. In this paper we argue that this is a conservative definition of coverage. This definition implicitly assumes that each sensor makes a decision independent of other sensors in the field. However, sensors can cooperate to make an accurate estimation, even if any single sensor is unable to do so. We then propose a new notion of information coverage and investigate its implications for sensor deployment. Numerical and simulation results show that significant savings in terms of sensor density for complete coverage can be achieved by using our definition of information coverage compared to that by using the existing definition.     

一种新的异构无线传感网覆盖优化算法

针对异构传感器节点在网络初期部署中产生大量覆盖面积冗余的问题，结合相关几何图形知识，以提高网络覆盖率、改善节点分布均匀度为优化目标，提出一种基于节点定向移动来减少节点两两之间覆盖冗余面积的网络覆盖优化算法。算法预先设立判定门限，通过判定两两节点之间覆盖冗余面积与设定门限的大小关系，对节点实施有向性偏移，逐一减少节点之间的覆盖冗余面积。理论分析与实验仿真证明，该算法能够有效提高异构传感器网络部署中的覆盖率，优化节点分布均匀度将近8.7，尤其在大型传感器网络的节点部署中具有极强实用性。     

Coverage and Lifetime Optimization of Wireless Sensor Networks with Gaussian Distribution

A wireless sensor network (WSN) has to maintain a desirable sensing coverage and periodically report sensed data to the administrative center (i.e., base station) and the reporting period may range from months to years. Coverage and lifetime are two paramount problems in a WSN due to constraint of associated battery power. All previous theoretical analysis on the coverage and lifetime is primarily focused on the random uniform distribution of sensors or some specific network scenarios (e.g., a controllable WSN). In this paper, we provide an analytical framework for the coverage and lifetime of a WSN that follows a two-dimensional Gaussian distribution. We also study the coverage and lifetime when the dimensions of Gaussian dispersion (i.e., x, y) admit different Gaussian parameters (i.e., standard deviation, $sigma_x neqsigma_y$). We identify intrinsic properties of coverage/lifetime in terms of Gaussian distribution parameters, which is a fundamental issue in designing a WSN. Following the results obtained, we further determine the sensor deployment strategies for a WSN that could satisfy a predefined coverage and lifetime. Two deployment algorithms are developed based on using our analytical models and are shown to effectively increase the WSN lifetime.     

Connectivity-Guaranteed and Obstacle-Adaptive Deployment Schemes for Mobile Sensor Networks

Mobile sensors can relocate and self-deploy into a network. While focusing on the problems of coverage, existing deployment schemes largely oversimplify the conditions for network connectivity: they either assume that the communication range is large enough for sensors in geometric neighborhoods to obtain location information through local communication, or they assume a dense network that remains connected. In addition, an obstacle-free field or full knowledge of the field layout is often assumed. We present new schemes that are not governed by these assumptions, and thus adapt to a wider range of application scenarios. The schemes are designed to maximize sensing coverage and also guarantee connectivity for a network with arbitrary sensor communication/sensing ranges or node densities, at the cost of a small moving distance. The schemes do not need any knowledge of the field layout, which can be irregular and have obstacles/holes of arbitrary shape. Our first scheme is an enhanced form of the traditional virtual-force-based method, which we term the connectivity-preserved virtual force (CPVF) scheme. We show that the localized communication, which is the very reason for its simplicity, results in poor coverage in certain cases. We then describe a floor-based scheme which overcomes the difficulties of CPVF and, as a result, significantly outperforms it and other state-of-the-art approaches. Throughout the paper our conclusions are corroborated by the results from extensive simulations.     

Adaptive cost efficient deployment strategy for homogeneous wireless camera sensors

Availability of low cost low power camera sensors is likely to make possible applications that may otherwise have been infeasible. In this paper we investigate a cost efficient camera sensor deployment strategy based on random deployment of homogeneous sensors to monitor and/or surveillance a region of interest. We assume that there are costs associated with the sensors as well as with the deployments and our goal is to minimize the total cost while satisfying the desired coverage requirement. We consider two cases which assume the sensing field is obstacle free or with obstacles, and we develop analytical methods to derive the expected coverage of a single sensor as well as the joint coverage for a given number of homogenous camera sensors. Following this we propose an adaptive sensor deployment strategy, which deploys different number of sensors in each iteration, based on our analytical method. We then evaluate the expected cost of our deployment strategy by deriving expressions for the number of deployments and the number of sensors deployed during each deployment as a function of the probability distributions of joint coverage by sensors. We carry out simulation studies to validate the analytical results. Simulation studies are also used to demonstrate that our deployment strategy leads to near optimal values of sensors and deployments and hence achieves the overall low cost.     

Connectivity-Preserved and Force-Based Deployment Scheme for Mobile Sensor Network

This paper considers the self-deployment of wireless sensor networks. Conventional deployment problem usually focuses on enhancing the coverage, while the conditions for network connectivity are largely simplified. We present a deployment scheme to enhance the coverage while keeping the network connected at each step of the deployment. Our scheme contains two parts. The coverage improvement part proposes an improved force-based mechanism. A limit is provided to determine the sensors which should attractive each other, so the wasted overlap and communication resource can be reduced. The connectivity preservation part provides constrains for the movement distance of each sensor, in order to take account of both connectivity and coverage enhancement. Some simulation results are presented to show the connectivity preservation and coverage maximization properties of our mechanism.     

Barrier coverage with line-based deployed mobile sensors

Barrier coverage of a wireless sensor network is a critical issue in military and homeland security applications, aiming to detect intruders that attempt to cross the deployed region. While a range of problems related to barrier coverage have been investigated, little effort has been made to explore the effects of different sensor deployment strategies and mechanisms to improve barrier coverage of a wireless sensor network after it is deployed. In this paper we study the barrier coverage of a line-based sensor deployment strategy and explore how to exploit sensor mobility to improve barrier coverage. We first establish a tight lower bound for the existence of barrier coverage under the line-based deployment. Our results show that the barrier coverage of the line-based deployment significantly outperforms that of the Poisson model when the random offsets are relatively small compared to the sensor’s sensing range. To take advantage of the performance of line-based deployment, we further devise an efficient algorithm to relocate mobile sensors based on the deployed line so as to improve barrier coverage. The algorithm finds barrier gaps and then relocates mobile sensors to fill the gaps while at the same time balancing the energy consumption among mobile sensors. Simulation results show that the algorithms can effectively improve the barrier coverage of a wireless sensor network for a wide range of deployment parameters. Therefore, in wireless sensor network applications, the coverage goal, possible sensor deployment strategies, and sensor mobility must be carefully and jointly considered. The results obtained in this paper will provide important guidelines and insights into the deployment and performance of wireless sensor networks for barrier coverage.     

Matching and Fairness in Threat-Based Mobile Sensor Coverage

Mobile sensors can be used to effect complete coverage of a surveillance area for a given threat over time, thereby reducing the number of sensors necessary. The surveillance area may have a given threat profile as determined by the kind of threat, and accompanying meteorological, environmental, and human factors. In planning the movement of sensors, areas that are deemed higher threat should receive proportionately higher coverage. We propose a coverage algorithm for mobile sensors to achieve a coverage that will match—over the long term and as quantified by an RMSE metric—a given threat profile. Moreover, the algorithm has the following desirable properties: 1) stochastic, so that it is robust to contingencies and makes it hard for an adversary to anticipate the sensor's movement, 2) efficient, and 3) practical, by avoiding movement over inaccessible areas. Further to matching, we argue that a fairness measure of performance over the shorter time scale is also important. We show that the RMSE and fairness are, in general, antagonistic, and argue for the need of a combined measure of performance, which we call efficacy. We show how a pause time parameter of the coverage algorithm can be used to control the trade-off between the RMSE and fairness, and present an efficient offline algorithm to determine the optimal pause time maximizing the efficacy. Finally, we discuss the effects of multiple sensors, under both independent and coordinated operation. Extensive simulation results—under realistic coverage scenarios—are presented for performance evaluation.     

Connected sensor cover for area information coverage in wireless sensor networks

Coverage is an important issue in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and is often used to measure how well a sensor field is monitored by the deployed sensors. If the area covered by a sensor can also be covered by some other sensors, this sensor can go into an energy‐saving sleep state without sacrificing the coverage requirement. In this paper, we study the problem of how to select active sensors with the constraints that the selected active sensors can provide complete field coverage and are completely connected. We propose to use the notion of information coverage, which is based on estimation theory to exploit the collaborative nature of WSNs, instead of using the conventional definition of coverage. Owing to the use of information coverage, a point that is not within the sensing disk of any sensor can still be considered to be covered without loss of estimation reliability. We propose a heuristic to approximately solve our problem. The basic idea is to grow a connected sensor tree to maximize the profit from the covered points of the selected sensors in each step. Simulations are used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and the results illustrate that the number of active sensors to provide area coverage can be greatly reduced by using the notion of information coverage compared with that by using the conventional definition of coverage. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coverage by randomly deployed wireless sensor networks

One of the main applications of wireless sensor networks is to provide proper coverage of their deployment regions. A wireless sensor network k-covers its deployment region if every point in its deployment region is within the coverage ranges of at least k sensors. In this paper, we assume that the sensors are deployed as either a Poisson point process or a uniform point process in a square or disk region, and study how the probability of the k-coverage changes with the sensing radius or the number of sensors. Our results take the complicated boundary effect into account, rather than avoiding it by assuming the toroidal metric as done in the literature.     

An incremental deployment algorithm for wireless sensor networks using one or multiple autonomous agents

The paper studies the deployment problem of wireless sensor networks using one or multiple autonomous agents. An online incremental algorithm based on Voronoi partition is proposed to solve the problem, for which each agent deploys sensors one-at-a-time with the objective of using less number of sensors to cover an area and maintain communication connectivity. A probabilistic sensor sensing model is applied for area coverage evaluation. The shape of target area is assumed to be known by the agents, but how the environment affects the communication is unknown a priori. Therefore, the agents are desired to autonomously place every new sensor at an appropriate location based on deployed sensors to ensure connectivity and coverage specifications. Both simulations and experiments using our self-made wireless sensors are conducted to validate the algorithm.     

A Pre-Determined Nodes Deployment Strategy of Two-Tiered Wireless Sensor Networks Based on Minimizing Cost

Nodes deployment is a fundamental factor in determining the connectivity, coverage, lifetime and cost of wireless sensor networks. In this paper, a two-tiered wireless sensor networks consisting of sensor clusters and a base station is considered. Within a sensor cluster, there are many sensor nodes and a relay node. We focus on the deployment strategy for sensor nodes and relay nodes to minimize cost under some constraints. Several means are used. The regular hexagonal cell architecture is employed to build networks. Based on the analysis of energy consumption of sensors and cost of network, an integer programming model is presented to minimize the cost. By the model, number of layers of sensor cluster is determined. In order to balance the energy consumption of sensors on the identical layer, a uniform load routing algorithm is used. The numerical analysis and simulation results show that the waste of energy and cost of wireless sensor networks can be effectively reduced by using the strategy.     

Coverage and Connectivity-Based 3D Wireless Sensor Deployment Optimization

The wireless sensor network technology of Internet of Things (IoT) senses, collects and processes the data from its interconnected intelligent sensors to the base station. These sensors help the IoT to understand the environmental change and respond towards it. Thus sensor placement is a crucial device of IoT for efficient coverage and connectivity in the network. Many existing works focus on optimal sensor placement for two dimensional terrain but in various real-time applications sensors are often deployed over three-dimensional ambience. Therefore, this paper proposes a vertex coloring based sensor deployment algorithm for 3D terrain to determine the sensor requirement and its optimal spot and to obtain 100% target coverage. Further, the quality of the connectivity of sensors in the network is determined using Breadth first search algorithm. The results obtained from the proposed algorithm reveal that it provides efficient coverage and connectivity when compared with the existing methods.

     

Maximal coverage hybrid search algorithm for deployment in wireless sensor networks

A vital design aspect in the setting up of a wireless sensor network is the deployment of sensors. One of the key metrics of the quality of deployment is the coverage as it reflects the monitoring capability of the network. Random deployment is a sub-optimal method as it causes unbalanced deployment and requires sensors in excess of the planned deployment to achieve the same level of coverage. To achieve maximum coverage with a limited number of sensors, planned deployment is a preferred choice. Maximizing the coverage of the region of interest with a given number and type of sensors is an optimization problem. A novel maximal coverage hybrid search algorithm (MCHSA) is proposed in this paper to solve this problem. The MCHSA is a hybrid search algorithm that achieves the balance between exploration and exploitation by applying the particle swarm optimization as a global search technique and using the Hooke–Jeeves pattern search method to improve the local search. The algorithm starts with a good initial population. The proposed MCHSA has low computational complexity and fast convergence. The performance of the MCHSA is analyzed by performing a comparison with the existing algorithms in the literature, in terms of coverage achieved and number of fitness function evaluations. The paper also discusses the tuning of parameters of the proposed algorithm.