A Low-Overhead Localized Target Coverage Algorithm in Wireless Sensor Networks

The scope of this paper is to present a low-overhead localized algorithm for the target coverage problem in wireless sensor networks. The algorithm divides the sensors into active and sleep mode nodes in order to conserve energy and extend the network lifetime. The set of active mode nodes provide full coverage to a set of targets (points) in the field. The decision of which sensors will remain active at any time is locally taken by the nodes by exchanging messages with each other. This kind of messages add overhead in the network, while high overhead can dramatically decrease the network lifetime especially in case of high node density environments. To tackle this problem we propose two variations of a localized algorithm with low communication complexity. Finally, the operational effectiveness of the proposed approaches is evaluated through simulation, while their superiority against other relevant proposed solutions in the literature is illustrated. The results show a great improvement in terms of communication cost while achieving an adequate network lifetime.