The use of mobile sensors is of great relevance to monitor hazardous applications where sensors cannot be deployed manually. Traditional algorithms primarily aim at maximizing network coverage rate, which leads to the creation of the "energy hole" in the region near the sink node. In this article, we are addressing the problem of redistributing mobile sensor nodes over an unattended target area. Driven by energy efficiency considerations, a pixel-based transmission scheme is developed to reduce extra overhead caused by frequent sensing and decision making. We derive the optimal node distribution and provide a theoretical explanation of balanced energy depletion for corona-based sensor network. In addition, we demonstrate that it can be extended to deal with uneven energy depletion due to the many-to-one communications in multi-hop wireless sensor networks. Applying the optimal condition, we then propose a novel sensor redistribution algorithm to completely eliminate the energy hole problem in mobile sensor network. Extensive simulation results verify that the proposed solution outperforms others in terms of coverage rate, average moving distance, residual energy, and total energy consumption.
Balanced energy depletion is an important way to prolong network lifetime for wireless sensor networks. Traditional algorithms mainly aim at maximizing network coverage rate with uniform sensor node distribution. However, wireless sensor network is characterized by many-to-one traffic pattern and multihop communication, which usually lead to the energy hole problem in the region around the sink node. In this paper, we investigate the problem of joint placement for both relays and sensors to eliminate energy hole. We first theoretically conclude that balanced energy depletion is achievable with rational designed deployment density for relay nodes. We then propose a novel relay deploying strategy as well as a data routing scheme to eliminate uneven energy depletion. Extensive simulations are presented to verify that our approach outperforms other schemes in terms of both network lifetime and unused energy ratio.
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