Energy Efficient Data Dissemination for Uniform Coverage in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are commonly used for continuous monitoring applications. However, due to remote and inaccessible WSN deployments, the batteries cannot be easily replaced. As a result, the quality of sensor monitoring changes with respect to time. We investigate the rate of change in coverage as sensor nodes are depleted of their energy resources. In this paper, we propose a coverage analysis method which not only focuses on the coverage itself but also on its uniformity and efficiency. The paper documents interesting network coverage evaluation studies showing several ways of getting valuable information about a WSN's coverage's uniformity and efficiency by appropriately interpreting the change in its efficient and redundant coverage ratios (efficient and redundant coverage ratios are terms defined in this paper). We also specify the particular WSN applications where the proposed coverage analysis method will be more suitable.