Towards realistic connectivity restoration in partitioned mobile sensor networks1. (16th June 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Senturk, I.F.; Akkaya, K.; Janansefat, S.
• Is Part Of: International journal of communication systems. Volume 29:Number 2(2016)
• Page Start: 230
• Page End: 250
• Publication Date: 2014-06-16
• Subjects: mobile sensor networks -- connectivity restoration -- terrain aware navigation -- energy efficiency -- node movement; Telecommunication systems -- Periodicals; 621.382
• DOI: 10.1002/dac.2819
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1074-5351

Abstract

Summary: The connectivity of a disjoint mobile sensor network can be restored by moving a set of nodes to certain destinations. However, all of the existing works have assumed that the selected destinations can be reached via direct path movement, which may not be the case in real‐world applications because of obstacles or terrain elevation. In addition, even if direct path movement is successful, optimal energy efficiency cannot be attained by neglecting the elevation or friction of the terrain when determining the movement path of the nodes. Thus, in the recovery efforts, terrain type, elevation, obstacles, and possible localization errors should be considered in order to guarantee the connectivity restoration while minimizing the recovery cost in terms of energy. In this paper, we pick two sample distributed and centralized connectivity restoration approaches from the literature to show that these approaches fail to restore connectivity in many cases due to the lack of considering realistic issues. These approaches are re‐designed in order to determine movement trajectory based on a path planning algorithm, which considers the risk and elevation of the terrain sections. Experiment results reveal several issues regarding the performance in terms of energy consumption and recovery delay. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Abstract : The straight line between two points may not provide the optimal movement path in terms of energy consumption when different terrain features are considered. Further, movement may not be completed due to obstacles or steep elevation. Therefore, the movement trajectory must be determined using a path planning algorithm that considers the risk and elevation of the terrain sections to ensure the success of the movement while minimizing energy consumption.