3D clustering-based camera wireless sensor networks for maximizing lifespan with minimum coverage rate constraint

Maximizing the lifespan of the wireless sensor networks (WSNs) subject to minimum area coverage rate is a crucial issue in the design and analysis of WSNs. With the fast development of image and video technology, wireless camera sensor networks (WCSNs) have attracted a great deal of research attention, particularly in the area coverage using WCSNs for many military or battle-field applications. Compared with 2D camera WSNs-based coverage, 3D camera WSNs-based coverage can provide with more comprehensive information. However, it imposes new challenges which were not encountered in 2D WCSNs, such as the complexity of the 3D coverage design and analysis. To overcome these problems, in this paper we propose a novel 3D coverage scheme using WCSNs. It aims at maximizing the lifespan by minimizing the energy consumption subject to the minimum coverage rate specified by application requirements. Building up the system model for field of view (FOV) of our 3D WCSNs, we derive the analytical expressions which can characterize the minimum number of randomly deployed camera sensor nodes to ensure the 3D coverage rate. Also, we develop the new low energy adaptive clustering hierarchy (LEACH) architecture with the new features as follows: applying heterogeneous sensor nodes; refining the threshold for cluster head selection; employing hybrid routing algorithms. The obtained simulation results show that our proposed schemes significantly outperform the other existing schemes in terms of maximizing the lifespan of WCSNs subject to the minimum coverage rate over the 3D space.