An Enhanced Virtual Force Algorithm for Diverse <i>k</i>-Coverage Deployment of 3D Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks

• Published in: Sensors
• Main Authors: Wenming Wang, Haiping Huang, Fan He, Fu Xiao, Xin Jiang, Chao Sha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-08-01
• Subjects: diverse <i>k</i>-coverage; sensor networks; three-dimensional coverage; underwater sensor networks; virtual force algorithm
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/16/3496

The combination of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and edge computing not only enhances their capabilities, but also motivates a series of new applications. As a typical application, 3D Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) have become a hot research issue. However, the coverage of underwater sensor networks problem must be solved, for it has a great significance for the network&#8217;s capacity for information acquisition and environment perception, as well as its survivability. In this paper, we firstly study the minimal number of sensor nodes needed to build a diverse <i>k</i>-coverage sensor network. We then propose a <i>k</i>-Equivalent Radius enhanced Virtual Force Algorithm (called <i>k</i>-ERVFA) to achieve an uneven regional coverage optimization for different <i>k</i>-coverage requirements. Theoretical analysis and simulation experiments are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm. The detailed performance comparisons show that <i>k</i>-ERVFA acquires a better coverage rate in high <i>k</i>-coverage sub-regions, thus achieving a desirable diverse <i>k</i>-coverage deployment. Finally, we perform sensitivity analysis of the simulation parameters and extend <i>k</i>-ERVFA to special cases such as sensor-sparse regions and time-variant situations.