Distributed coverage hole detection and recovery scheme for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks

In Wireless sensor networks (WSNs), the coverage problem is a fundamental issue. The coverage holes are generally caused by both, random deployment of the sensor nodes and node failures, and are hardly avoided in WSNs. It is impossible to recharge or replace the battery, and therefore, the collaborative detection and prediction of coverage holes and recovery of these holes has strategic importance in WSNs specially in heterogeneous WSNs (HWSNs). In this paper, a new scheme is proposed which includes distributed algorithms for detecting holes caused by both random deployment and node failures in HWSNs, where nodes can collaborate to detect and predict the coverage holes. This scheme also presents the new coverage holes healing algorithm, which can efficiently leverage mobility to optimize the average coverage rate and the average movement distance of the mobile nodes. The performance results of our scheme exceeds the existing algorithms in terms of coverage and energy saving.