A hybrid coverage control for enhancing UWSN localizability using IBSO-VFA

Abstract

Underwater node coverage is the basis of various applications in underwater wireless sensor network (UWSN). It is easy to cause the coordinates of underwater nodes drift affected by water flow action. Some sparsely deployed underwater nodes may form coverage holes, which makes it impossible to locate underwater targets effectively. Combined with the water flow situation, this paper proposes an improved brain storm optimization integrated with virtual force algorithm (IBSO-VFA) for improving UWSN coverage performance. After analyzing the water jet model and the resultant force along Z axis, the velocity components of east, north and depth directions can be derived, which can reveal the coordinate evolution model of drifted underwater nodes under water flow action. Underwater nodes present non-uniform distribution of partly sparse and partly dense coverage, even with a lot of coverage holes. Inspired by the virtual force algorithm, the drifted underwater nodes are driven to their relative communicable positions. Meanwhile, the brain storm optimization has been improved and applied to avoid falling into local coverage optimum by pure VFA. Based on the node maximum coverage, the dual mapping of signal domain and localizability domain is established in consideration of ranging and coordinate errors. Finally, a comprehensive performance test is conducted to evaluate IBSO-VFA performance in terms of coverage rates, k-coverage and localizability area. The results indicate that the IBSO-VFA can maximize the UWSN coverage and localizability performance. The proposed IBSO-VFA can provide a close-to-practical coverage model for drifted underwater nodes, and can provide a theoretical basis for ocean information perception in UWSN.