Charge critical sensors first: Minimize data loss in wireless rechargeable sensor networks

In this article, we study the scheduling of a charging vehicle to replenish sensor energy in a large-scale wireless sensor network, by utilizing the novel wireless energy transfer technology. We note that existing studies do not treat different sensors in the network discriminatively and consider only how to charge as many sensors as possible before their energy expirations. However, there are some critical sensors in the network, so that many other sensors have no alternative routing paths to upload their sensing data to the base station if the critical sensors die. Therefore, the energy expiration of a critical sensor will result in that not only the sensor itself cannot continue its monitoring task, but also many other sensors cannot send their data during the dead period of the critical sensor. Then, the monitoring quality of the sensor network will significantly deteriorate due to the energy expirations of the critical sensor. Unlike existing studies, we take into account the impact of energy depleti...