A Biology-Based Algorithm to Minimal Exposure Problem of Wireless Sensor Networks

• Published in: IEEE eTransactions on network and service management 2014-09, Vol.11 (3), p.417-430
• Main Authors: Yuning Song, Liang Liu, Huadong Ma, Vasilakos, Athanasios V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Approximation algorithms; Approximation methods; Biological; Biological system modeling; Computational modeling; Computer simulation; Exposure; Junctions; Monitoring; Optimization; Remote sensors; Sensors; Wireless networks
• ISSN: 1932-4537; 1932-4537
• DOI: 10.1109/TNSM.2014.2346080

The Minimal Exposure Problem (MEP), which corresponds to the quality of coverage, is a fundamental problem in wireless sensor networks. This paper exploits a biological model of physarum to design a novel biology-inspired optimization algorithm for MEP. We first formulate MEP and the related models, and then convert MEP into the Steiner problem by discretizing the monitoring field to a large-scale weighted grid. Inspired by the path-finding capability of physarum, we develop a biological optimization solution to find the minimal exposure road-network among multiple points of interest, and present a Physarum Optimization Algorithm (POA). Furthermore, POA can be used for solving the general Steiner problem. Extensive simulations demonstrate that our proposed models and algorithm are effective for finding the road-network with minimal exposure and feasible for the Steiner problem.