A node deployment mechanism accounting into received signal strength and frequency diversity for a wireless sensor network

In this paper, we propose an algorithm for sensor node deployment on a 2-D obstructed Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). Our algorithm is based on Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) and exploits the concept of frequency diversity. We start by analyzing the correlation between the power dissipation derived through our power estimation model and the RSSI received from the sensor nodes. We generate the power map that gives the power at any arbitrary location within the Field of Interest (FoI). The peaks of the power map represent strong power at the corresponding locations and the dips represent the weaker power. We use the peaks of the power map to suggest the ideal locations for node deployment. The coordinates with strong power values are suggested for efficient node deployment. We conduct test-bed experiments with ZigBee motes where RSSI readings are used to estimate the power values of the entire FoI using a modified Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation method along with our power estimation model.