A distributed area coverage algorithm for maintenance of randomly distributed sensors with adjustable sensing range

Efficient coverage and energy conservation are two of the primary concerns for area coverage applications of randomly deployed wireless sensor networks. This paper developed a distributed algorithm using range adjustable sensors for maintaining the full coverage of such sensor networks. The algorithm contains two major parts: the first part aims at providing 100% coverage and the second part aims at saving energy by shortening the sensing radius. Simulation results show that the algorithm works for sensor networks that have both uniformly and randomly distributed nodes. More than 10% shorter sensing radius can be achieved on average compared to equal, non-adjustable sensors, when networks are nearly uniformly distributed with sensor nodes. The savings in sensing radius is more than 50% on average, when the sensor network is randomly deployed. The communication overhead of the algorithm is linear related to the scale of sensor network.