Heuristics for Lifetime Maximization in Wireless Sensor Networks With Multiple Mobile Sinks

This paper investigates heuristics to control and coordinate the concurrent movement of multiple sinks for lifetime maximization in a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). The authors have developed a centralized heuristic that runs in polynomial time given the solution to the linear program from which provides a provable upper bound to the problem of controlled mobility of multiple sinks. The centralized heuristic solves the sink movement and placement problem obtaining lifetimes that are within 2% of the upper bound. They also define a deployable distributed heuristic for coordinating the motion of multiple sinks through the network.