On the Self-Organization of Mobile Agents to Ensure Dynamic Multi-level Coverage in Sensor Networks

A critical issue for the k-coverage problem in wireless sensor networks is how efficiently deploying sensors to cover an area of interest. In many critical scenarios such as in the military field, ensuring that each point in the monitored area of interest is sufficiently covered can guaranty the effectiveness of intrusion detection for both monitoring and tracking applications. Prior research indicated that Mobile Sensor Networks (MSNs) are capable of acting with great flexibility to enhance and cover holes appeared in certain regions when a sensor died due to limited energy and battery lifetime. In this paper, we consider the use of a strategy based on the collective motion mechanisms to relocate sensors nodes to achieve a higher k-coverage level. Each sensor node is able to compare its current k-coverage level with a predefined threshold so as to react dynamically by enabling a specific mobility behavior with a high priority. Based on this mobility behavior, a sensor node can move towards other sensors in its local neighborhood, and it would then be closer enough to them in order to enhance its k-coverage level and then it participates in achieving a higher k-coverage level for the whole group. Simulation results show the effectiveness of our considered approach in terms of the k-coverage level of 30 % as well as a significant improvement in energy consumption.