An energy efficient connected coverage protocol in wireless sensor networks

The connected coverage is one of the most important problems in Wireless Sensor Networks. However, most existing approaches to connected coverage require knowledge of accurate location information. This paper solves a challenging problem: without accurate location information, how to schedule sensor nodes to save energy and meet both constraints of sensing area coverage and network connectivity. Our solution is based on the theoretical analysis of the sensing area coverage property of minimal dominating set. We establish the relationship between point coverage and area coverage, and derive the upper and lower bound that point coverage is equivalent to area coverage in random geometric graphs. Based on the analytical results and the existing algorithms which construct the connected dominating set, an Energy Efficient Connected Coverage Protocol (EECCP) is proposed. Extensive simulation studies show that the proposed connected coverage protocol can effectively maintain both high quality sensing coverage and connectivity for a long time.