Leveraging Height in a Jumping Sensor Network to Extend Network Coverage

With respect to ground level, wireless communication signal strength increases with the elevation of communicating wireless sensor network devices, within practical bounds. Jumping sensors are mobile sensors that provide relocation capabilities and a temporary increase in elevation can be utilized for improving communication. This paper provides a comprehensive multidimensional analysis for jumping sensors. It studies the main factors that impact the Received Signal Strength (RSS) in sensor communication, and performs a comparative analysis between theoretical and experimental results. Sensor elevation from ground level is a key factor, which is often neglected, and plays an important role for successful wireless communication. The impact of jump height manipulation on a jumping sensor to the packet transmission goodput is presented. An airborne two-way communication scheme is defined and studied with experiments. The results indicate the effectiveness of utilizing the change in elevation of a jumping sensor to increase communication range. Since energy is at premium in sensor nodes, the operational energy cost of a jumping sensor prototype is studied in detail. A jumping sensor network is simulated with the parameters learned from the experimental results and the jumping sensor prototype analysis. Simulation results show the enhancement in connectivity and the feasibility of a jumping sensor network.