OA-DVFA: A Distributed Virtual Forces-based Algorithm to monitor an area with unknown obstacles

Deployment of sensor nodes to fully cover an area has caught the interest of many researchers. However, some simplifying assumptions are adopted such as knowledge of obstacles, centralized algorithm... To cope with these drawbacks, we propose OA-DVFA (Obstacles Avoidance Distributed Virtual Forces Algorithm) a self-deployment algorithm to ensure full area coverage and network connectivity. This fully distributed algorithm is based on virtual forces to move sensor nodes. In this paper, we show how to avoid the problem of node oscillations and to detect the end of the deployment in a distributed way. We evaluate the impact of the number, shape and position of obstacles on the coverage rate, the distance traveled by all nodes and the number of active nodes. Simulation results show the very good behavior of OA-DVFA.