A Delaunay-Based Coordinate-Free Mechanism for Full Coverage in Wireless Sensor Networks

Recently, many schemes have been proposed for detecting and healing coverage holes to achieve full coverage in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). However, none of these schemes aim to find the shortest node movement paths to heal the coverage holes, which could significantly reduce energy usage for node movement. Also, current hole healing schemes require accurate knowledge of sensor locations, obtaining this knowledge consumes high energy. In this paper, we propose a DElaunay-based Coordinate-free Mechanism (DECM) for full coverage. Based on rigorous mathematical analysis, DECM can detect coverage holes and find the locally shortest paths for healing holes in a distributed manner without requiring accurate node location information. Simulation results and experimental results from the real-world GENI Orbit test bed show that DECM achieves superior performance in terms of the energy-efficiency and effectiveness of hole healing compared to previous schemes.