Location-Aware and Mobility-Based Performance Optimization for Wireless Sensor Networks

Clustering protocols effectively utilize network resources for maximizing the lifetime of a mobile wireless sensor network. However, most of these protocols do not address the sensing coverage efficiency. Recently developed protocols, like LEACH-VF and K-LEACH-VF, take advantage of node mobility to combine sensor placement with clustering protocols to achieve the goal of jointly optimizing the network lifetime and coverage. However, these protocols work only on the cluster level and take no consideration of the network, as a whole. This results in a degradation of the performance due to possible inter-cluster overlaps. In this work, we propose LEACH-SP, a novel clustering protocol based on submodular optimization algorithms that produce approximate solutions with theoretical optimality guarantees of the network lifetime and coverage. This is combined with avoiding the intercluster overlaps. Such a feature was not attained in previous literature. The simulation results show that, with LEACH-SP, the nodes are required to move shorter distances compared to LEACH-VF and K-LEACH-VF. In addition, LEACH-SP improves the total covered area and the network lifetime.