Full connectivity and probabilistic coverage in random deployed 3D WSNs

Connectivity and coverage problem is an important and fundamental issue in sensor networks, which reflects how well a sensor network is communication-connected and monitored by sensors. While connectivity and coverage problem in two dimensional wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have been well studied, three dimensional WSNs have gained relatively less attention in present literatures. This paper discusses the connectivity and coverage problem in random deployed three dimensional WSNs. We propose an experimental analysis of the fundamental relationship between connectivity probability, the number of nodes and the nodes' transmitting ranges. Based on probability model, we calculate a feasible range of the number of nodes for an effective sensing coverage in a three dimensional sensing field. Thus, a practical guidance for random deployment in three dimensional WSNs from connectivity and coverage perspective is given.