A Location-free Algorithm of Energy-Efficient Connected Coverage for High Density Wireless Sensor Networks

TLDR: Following the principle, a distributed, localized and location-free node scheduling algorithm, Stand Guard Algorithm (StanGA), is proposed for treating coverage and connectivity in a unified scheme and can guarantee network connectivity and any degree of sensing coverage.

Abstract: One of the most serious concerns for wireless sensor networks (WSN) is energy. To obtain long lifetime, one potential method is deploying redundant sensors in the WSN and let each sensor switch its state between ACTIVE and OFF. At the same time, the WSN should meet various requirements of quality of service (QoS). This paper focuses on two important measurements of OoS: sensing coverage and network connectivity. Existing researches have provided many algorithms to schedule the nodes' states for coverage preserving, including location-free ones. Our work differs from existing location-free algorithms in several key ways: (1). We propose a novel principle on coverage preserving that is suitable for location-free schemes; (2). Following the principle, a distributed, localized and location-free node scheduling algorithm, Stand Guard Algorithm (StanGA), is proposed for treating coverage and connectivity in a unified scheme. Under certain conditions, StanGA can guarantee network connectivity and any degree of sensing coverage. Simulation results show that StanGA is scalable and robust, and also show that StanGA outperforms existing location-free algorithms even when only coverage issue is considered.