The coverage-control optimization in sensor network subject to sensing area

A wireless sensor network is envisioned as a group of tiny power-constrained devices with functions of sensing and communication, which can be scattered over a region to enable monitoring of the region. One of challenges in developing this technique is the problem of topology control. The main idea of topology control is reducing node energy consumption and/or increasing network capacity. This paper considers an optimal problem, which is to search a minimal node-set such that its sensing area can cover an expected area. To solve the optimal problem, the weighted sensing topology is introduced, and some strategies, such as finding the ‘basic’ maximal independent node-set and estimating the coverage area of a node-set, are proposed to design a heuristic algorithm. Further, it is proved that the proposed algorithm can obtain the exact optimal solutions in the case that the resulting optimal solutions are independent node-sets, and the complexity of the heuristic algorithm is O(n2)O(n2). The simulation shows its effectiveness and efficiency.