Analyzing and shaping the lifetime and the performance of barrier coverage sensor networks

Abstract

In this work we model and provide the means to extend the lifetime of a barrier coverage sensor network deployed fortarget detection. We consider a scenario where sensors are randomly dropped on a bidimensional field in order to detect target traversals which occur in a stochastic way within a critical mission time. Once a target enters a sensor's detection area, the sensor transmits such information to a cluster head, in charge of receiving and retransmitting the messages received from the sensors deployed on the field. The contribution of this work is fourfold. We first identify the sensing nodes whose behavior is key to model the duration of sensing operations, assuming prior arrival and mobility models for target traversals. We then proceed, providing a heuristic estimation of the traffic received by the cluster head to quantify its energy requirements, resorting to specific lifetime definitions. We also evaluate the relationship between our probabilistic and heuristic models and the time until the barrier remains capable of detecting and reporting the traversal of any target to a sink, as obtained by simulation. Finally, we show how the lifetime of such network may be shaped, with the use of a sequential activation mechanism, for example to combat the traversals of adversaries exploiting the lifetime models obtained in this work.