Target Scheduling algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks: Imperialist Competitive Algorithm Approach

Wireless sensor networks have been deployed for many applications such as surveillance an area or a set of targets and lifetime maximization is one the most important challenges in wireless sensor networks. When a set of sensor nodes dropped into a field by aircraft or manually to monitor a set of targets, scheduling sensor nodes to monitor deployed targets is necessary to prolong network lifetime. Scheduling sensor nodes into cover set is one of the most important approaches to solve this problem. Hence, it is desirable to activate a minimum number of sensor nodes that are able to monitor all targets and turn off redundant nodes to save energy. In this paper, we used Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) to schedule sensor nodes into cover sets that can monitor deployed targets and increase lifetime and ICA is used as a method to create cover set in network. To study performance of our approach computer simulations conducted and results of these simulations showed that our algorithm can improve network`s lifetime in comparison with similar existing methods.