A Cluster Based Approach toward Sensor Localization and K-coverage Problems

In this paper we present a cluster based approach to using a sensor’s sensibility and laser signal to address both sensor node localization and K-coverage problems. After sensors were randomly deployed, a virtual grid was mapped over the deployment area. Location guided laser beams are projected to the centers of grid cells to trigger sensors within one hop of communication range to form sensor clusters in the virtual grid. Therefore, all clusters are aware of their locations within the precision of location guided laser beams. We assume there are redundant sensors in each cluster. Thus the cluster members can operate alternatively (duty-cycle) in active or sleep modes under the coordination of the cluster head to conserve energy while providing sufficient and robust coverage in the presence of both node power depletions and unexpected failures. We introduce two distributed algorithms to form sensor clusters and to manage cluster members in duty cycles while maintaining the required K-coverage. Simulation and analysis results show that our algorithms scales well with overhead cost as a linear function of sensor population in terms of energy consumption..