Table Of ContentDeploying Wireless Sensor Networks
Sensor Networks Set
coordinated by
Abdelhamid Mellouk
Deploying Wireless
Sensor Networks
Theory and Practice
Mustapha Reda Senouci
Abdelhamid Mellouk
First published 2016 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Press Ltd and Elsevier Ltd
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Preface
The last two decades of the 20th Century have been driven by the
emergenceandevolutionofmanytypesofnetworksandthereisnodoubtthat
in the 21st Century the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) and its
applications will have a key role in the way we understand our society. The
IoT describes the trend for environments, buildings, vehicles, clothing,
portable devices and other objects to have a digital representation and the
ability to sense, use or exchange information. IoT makes things more
interesting by connecting real-world objects, places and people through the
digital world. Small objects connected through the IoT are today considered
to be one of the main challenges for the business revolution in the coming
years.Awidespread useofsuchconnectedobjectswillundoubtedly influence
people, societies andbusinesses.
In recent years, the continuous evolution of technologies and the
development of new applications and services have steered networking
research toward new problems, which have emerged as the network evolves
with new features. This has moved toward what is usually referred to as the
Future Internet which has become one of the basic infrastructures that
currently supports the global economy. In fact, there is a strong need to build
a new network scenario, where networked computer devices are proliferating
rapidly, supporting new types of services, usages and applications: from
wireless sensor networks and new optical network technologies to cloud
computing, high-end mobile devices supporting high definition media, high
performance computers, peer-to-peer networks and various platforms and
applications. Thisnewnetworkscenario isfueling research intheareaofnew
network architectures which consider both the requirements and demands of
x DeployingWirelessSensorNetworks
key emerging applications and services and the currently deployed network
infrastructures.
One of the most promising technologies within the IoT today consists of
sensor networks. It will be fascinating to look back in the years ahead and
note the growing interest in the use of sensor networks in real-world
applications. Infact,thesekinds ofnetworks represent anefficient technology
to monitor and collect specific characteristics in any environment. Several
applications have already been envisioned, in a wide range of areas such as
military, commercial, emergency, biology and health care applications. A
sensor is a physical component able to accomplish three tasks: identify a
physical quantity, treat any such information and transmit this information to
a sink. In most practical applications, sensors do not change their locations
once they are deployed on the sensing field. One of the critical and important
aspects in the success of the use of these networks in real-life applications is
correlated tothedeployment ofsensors.
Due the emergence of different kinds of sensors and the foreseen
proliferation of different and specific types of services supported by these
sensors, the use of networks based on a large amount of sensors has the
potential tobecomearealchallenge whentakingseveralkindsofapplications
intoaccount.
The book focuses on the current state-of-the-art research results and
experience reports in thearea of deployment techniques dedicated to wireless
sensornetworks(WSNs).Itdetailsallthedeployment approaches usedinthis
area in the case of static and mobile environments. Moreover, an in-depth
discussion concerning deployment-related issues such as deployment cost,
coverage, sensors uncertainty, connectivity, sensors reliability, network
lifetime and harsh deployment environments is provided. This book shows
that WSN deployment field is a very dynamic area in terms of theory and
application.
To give a complete bibliography and a historical account of the research
that led to the present form of the subject would have been impossible. It is
thus inevitable that some topics have been treated in less detail than others.
The choices made reflect in part personal taste and expertise, and in part a
preference for avery promising research and recent developments in the field
ofsensordeployment techniques.
Preface xi
This book is a start, but also leaves many questions unanswered. We hope
thatitwillinspireanewgeneration ofresearchers.
Theauthorshopeyouwillenjoyreading thisbookandhopetoprovide the
readerswithmanyhelpfulideasandoverviewsforyourownstudy.
MustaphaRedaSenouci
AbdelhamidMellouk
February2016
Introduction
Recent years have witnessed successful real-world deployments of
wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in a wide range of civilian and military
applications. In most practical applications, sensors do not change their
locations once they are deployed in the sensing field. We call this kind of
deployment practice static sensor deployment. In the literature, static sensor
deployment is typically carried out in one of two approaches: random
deployment ordeterministicdeployment.Theselectionofasuitableapproach
dependsonmanyfactors,suchasthetypeofsensors,thenatureoftheregion
of interest (RoI), and the application needs. However, when sensors are able
to move on their own, dynamic deployment reconfiguration can be exploited
toenhancethenetworkperformance.Wecallthiskindofdeploymentpractice
dynamicsensordeployment.
This book addresses WSN deployment, which is a mandatory and critical
step in the process of developing WSN solutions for real-life applications.
Thediscussionstartswithsimpleapproaches todeploystaticWSNsand then
is extended to more sophisticated approaches to deploy mobile WSNs.
Moreover, an in-depth discussion concerning deployment-related issues such
as deployment cost, coverage, sensors uncertainty, connectivity, sensors
reliability, network lifetime and harsh deployment environments is
provided.
This book is divided into five chapters. After introducing WSNs
(Chapter 1), the book provides an in-depth investigation of WSN deployment
approaches that generally fall under one of the following categories: random
xiv DeployingWirelessSensorNetworks
deployment (Chapter 2), deterministic deployment (Chapter 3), fusion-based
deterministicdeployment(Chapter4)anddynamicdeployment(Chapter5).
Chapter 1 provides an overview of WSNs. It highlights the major
characteristics of sensors and WSNs, followed by an introduction to typical
WSN models and applications. Further, this chapter explains the research
problems explored in this book, i.e. WSN deployment issues and their
importancetoWSNapplications.
Chapter 2 focuses on the most naive approach to deploy static WSNs:
random deployment. Due to the large scale of WSNs or to the
inaccessibility/harshness of the RoI, random deployment is often the best
choice. Sensors may be deployed from a plane, delivered in an artillery shell,
rocket or missile, or catapulted from a shipboard. Such random sensor
placementstrategiesarediscussedinChapter2.
Although the ease and practicalities of random deployment are appealing,
it is often considered too expensive in comparison to deterministic
deployment. The latter is optimal as sensors are placed at predetermined
coordinates to guarantee network efficiency. Chapter 3 investigates static
WSN deterministic deployment, which has different appellations in the
literature,e.g.placement,layout,coverage,orpositioningproblemsinWSNs.
It highlights the components involved and discusses the existing literature.
Moreover, it analyzes the uncertainty-aware WSN deployment where sensors
maynotalwaysprovidereliableinformation, andshowshowevidencetheory
could be used to design better deployment strategies. A comprehensive
methodology for deterministic deployment of WSNs is presented and
executed to deploy a simplified indoor surveillance WSN for motion
detection.
Chapter 4 investigates the fusion-based deterministic deployment that is
usually employed in the deployment of WSNs for critical applications that
imposestringentrequirementssuchasahighdetectionratecoupledwithalow
false alarm rate. This chapter discusses existing sensor placement algorithms
and shows how evidence theory could be exploited to design better fusion-
baseddeploymentstrategies.Asanexample,thischapterreportstheobtained
resultswhendeployingasimplifiedfusion-basedindoorsurveillanceWSN.
As mentioned previously, WSNs can be formed by dropping sensors from
the air. However, random deployment of sensors can leave holes in terms of
Introduction xv
coverage in the RoI. Sensors mobility could be exploited to improve the
random initial deployment. Such a practice is called movement-assisted
sensor deployment, or WSN self-deployment. Moreover, sensor failure may
causeconnectivityloss,andinsomecases,networkpartitioning.Dynamically
repositioningthesensorswhilethenetworkisoperationalisnecessarytodeal
with such events. In other words, sensor relocation could be used to provide
WSNs with self-healing capabilities. Chapter 5 reviews recent literature
pertaining to WSN self-deployment and self-healing strategies.
Classifications of the most recent deployment techniques are provided.
Moreover, different proposed algorithms are categorized, summarized and
compared.
At the end of each chapter, practical issues that need further research are
discussed. In summary, this book discusses both theoretical and practical
aspectsandprovidesguidelinesforeffectivedeploymentofWSNs.
1
Wireless Sensor Networks
Recent technological advances in the field of microelectromechanical systems
(MEMS) have enabled the development of low-cost, low-power and small-scale sensor
nodes that integrate sensing, processing, storage, and communication capabilities. Such
sensors may be deployed in large numbers over vast geographical areas to form a
Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), which provide unprecedented opportunities for
monitoringandcontrollingtherealworld.ThischapterprovidesabriefoverviewofWSNs,
starting with a general definition of WSNs followed by an introduction to typical WSNs
models and applications. Then, this chapter explains the research problems explored in
thisbook,i.e.WSNsdeploymentproblems,andtheirimportancetoWSNsapplications.
1.1. WSNdefinition,modelsandapplications
1.1.1. Sensornodes
Commonly, a sensor is a device that responds to physical quantities such
as heat, and converts them into electricity to enable automatic interpretation
and processing. A sensor node (generally referred to as sensor or mote) is an
autonomous, compactdevicethatnotonlyintegrates sensorsbutalsoincludes
other units to process and deliver sensory data. Thus, a mote generates
data from sensing physical parameters, and eventually transmits this data toa
main location. A typical sensor node comprises the following units: sensor,
communication, microcontroller, memory and power. Depending on the
application requirements, other units could be included such as: GPS,
locomotory, energyharvesting, etc.
A sensor node is implemented by a sensor board that integrates all the
aforementioned components andothernecessary circuitry. Figure1.1presents
