Lifetime Maximization of Wireless Sensor Networks with a Mobile Source Node

TL;DR

This paper addresses maximizing the lifetime of wireless sensor networks with a mobile source node by formulating and solving online nonlinear programming problems as the node moves, extending previous fixed-topology approaches.

Contribution

It introduces a new lifetime definition for mobile source nodes and develops an optimal control framework with online NLP solutions for trajectory-based lifetime maximization.

Findings

Lifetime maximization formulated as online NLP problems.

Trajectory-aware routing improves network lifetime.

Framework applicable without prior knowledge of node trajectory.

Abstract

We study the problem of routing in sensor networks where the goal is to maximize the network's lifetime. Previous work has considered this problem for fixed-topology networks. Here, we add mobility to the source node, which requires a new definition of the network lifetime. In particular, we redefine lifetime to be the time until the source node depletes its energy. When the mobile node's trajectory is unknown in advance, we formulate three versions of an optimal control problem aiming at this lifetime maximization. We show that in all cases, the solution can be reduced to a sequence of Non- Linear Programming (NLP) problems solved on line as the source node trajectory evolves.