Reliable and Energy Efficient Target Coverage for Wireless Sensor Networks

• Published in: Tsinghua science and technology 2011-10, Vol.16 (5), p.464-474
• Main Authors: He, Jing, Ji, Shouling, Pan, Yi, Li, Yingshu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Active control; Algorithms; Control systems; energy efficiency; Failure; Networks; node failure; sensor scheduling; Sensors; System reliability; target coverage; Wireless communication; wireless sensor networks; α-reliable maximum sensor covers; 可靠性; 失效概率; 控制系统; 无线传感器网络; 生命周期; 网络覆盖; 节能高效; 贪婪算法
• ISSN: 1007-0214; 1878-7606; 1007-0214
• DOI: 10.1016/S1007-0214(11)70066-9

A critical aspect of applications with Wireless Sensor Networks （WSNs） is network lifetime. Power-constrained WSNs are usable as long as they can communicate sense data to a processing node. Poor communication links and hazardous environments make the WSNs unreliable. Existing schemes assume that the state of a sensor covering targets is binary： success （covers the targets） or failure （cannot cover the targets）. However, in real WSNs, a sensor covers targets with a certain probability. To improve WSNs＇ reliability, we should consider that a sensor covers targets with users＇ satisfied probability. To solve this problem, this paper first introduces a failure probability into the target coverage problem to improve and control the system reliability. Furthermore, we model the solution as the a-Reliable Maximum Sensor Covers （a-RMSC） problem and design a heuristic greedy algorithm that efficiently computes the maximal number of a-Reliable sensor covers. To efficiently extend the WSNs lifetime with users＇ pre-defined failure probability requirements, only the sensors from the current active sensor cover are responsible for monitoring all targets, while all other sensors are in a low-energy sleep mode. Simulation results validate the performance of this algorithm, in which users can precisely control the system reliability without sacrificing much energy consumption.