Detection and Recovery of Coverage Holes in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) consists of distributed low-cost sensing nodes with autonomous network. Several anomalies can occur in wireless sensor networks that may form various coverage holes. These holes may disturb the existing coverage or connectivity, and impair desired functionalities of networks. Hence, it is essential to detect and recovery coverage holes in order to ensure the full operability of a WSN. In the paper, we propose a decentralized, coordinate-free, node-based coverage hole detection algorithm. It is based on boundary critical points, and can be run on a single node with verifying boundary critical points from neighbors. The hole patching algorithm is implemented with the concept of perpendicular bisector and our detection algorithm. The patching sensor nodes are deployed on hole boundary bisectors. Simulation demonstrates that our algorithm can detect and recover coverage hole, and guarantee full coverage in hostile environments with an effective manner.