Impact of Heterogeneity on the Deployment of Sensor Networks

In this paper, deployment of heterogeneous sensors in a field with preferential areas is studied. The problem is formulated using a mathematical program and solved optimally with an objective function that maximizes the coverage of the monitored field. The formulation considers several operation capabilities of the sensing devices including reliability, mobility, mobility cost, lifespan and power self-scheduling, as well as fields with preferential areas. For large-scale problems, a two-phase approach is proposed. A set of deployment patterns is first generated; and then assigned to the available devices considering their limited operational capabilities. Different sets of conducted experiments demonstrate the benefits of using heterogeneous sensors and fields with special monitoring requirements. In addition, the results show that the two-phase approach is capable of producing near-optimal coverage performance in a much shorter running time.