Controlling sensor density using mobility

Abstract

We present a distributed deployment algorithm for a mobile sensor network which is able to deploy sensor nodes in a distribution proportional to a scalar field. The algorithm randomly partitions space into sufficiently small neighborhoods at each iteration. Within each neighborhood a redistribution process directed by a cluster head is enacted. We prove that after sufficiently many iterations, the distribution of nodes approaches the desired profile in the overall region. The algorithm is scalable to large network sizes, and is not restricted to planar domains. We show experimentally that the algorithm is noise tolerant.