A Coverage-Aware Distributed k-Connectivity Maintenance Algorithm for Arbitrarily Large k in Mobile Sensor Networks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a distributed algorithm for mobile sensor networks that maintains k-connectivity efficiently while balancing coverage preservation, even in large-scale and failure-prone environments.

Contribution

It presents a novel coverage-aware distributed k-connectivity maintenance algorithm that optimizes node movements and coverage conservation in large mobile sensor networks.

Findings

Restores k-connectivity more efficiently than existing algorithms.

Balances coverage and connectivity with a configurable ratio.

Proven effective through extensive simulations and testbed experiments.

Abstract

Mobile sensor networks (MSNs) have emerged from the interaction between mobile robotics and wireless sensor networks. MSNs can be deployed in harsh environments, where failures in some nodes can partition MSNs into disconnected network segments or reduce the coverage area. A k-connected network can tolerate at least k-1 arbitrary node failures without losing its connectivity. In this study, we present a coverage-aware distributed k-connectivity maintenance (restoration) algorithm that generates minimum-cost movements of active nodes after a node failure to preserve a persistent k value subject to a coverage conservation criterion. The algorithm accepts a coverage conservation ratio (as a trade-off parameter between coverage and movements) and facilitates coverage with the generated movements according to this value. Extensive simulations and testbed experiments reveal that the proposed algorithm restores k-connectivity more efficiently than the existing restoration algorithms. Furthermore, our algorithm can be utilized to maintain k-connectivity without sacrificing the coverage, significantly.