Finding and Mending Barrier Gaps in Wireless Sensor Networks

Constructing sensing barriers using wireless sensor networks has important applications in military operations and homeland security. The goal of forming a sensing barrier is to detect intruders attempting to cross the network. Early studies often assume that sensors remain static once deployed. The authors note that barrier gaps may occur at deployment if sensors are deployed at random. Barrier gaps may also occur in an existing barrier if some sensors used to form the barrier start malfunctioning or run out of power. They present an efficient solution to solve this problem. In particular, they devise an efficient algorithm to find sensing gaps and relocate mobile sensors to form a new barrier while balancing the energy consumption among mobile sensors.