An effective graph‐theoretic approach towards simultaneous detection of fault(s) and cut(s) in wireless sensor networks

Abstract

SummaryA failed sensor node partitions a wireless sensor network (WSN) into 2 or more disjoint components, which is called as a cut in the network. The cut detection has been considered as a very challenging problem in the WSN research. In this paper, we propose a graph‐theoretic distributed protocol to detect simultaneously the faults and cuts in the WSN. The proposed approach could be accomplished mainly in 3 phases, such that initialization phase, fault detection phase, and a cut detection phase. The protocol is an iterative method where at every time iteration, the node updates its state to calculate the potential factor. We introduced 2 terminologies such as a safe zone or cut zone of the network. The proposed method has been evaluated regarding various performance evaluation measures by implementing the same in the network simulator NS–2.35. The obtained results show that the proposed graph‐theoretic approach is simple yet very powerful for the intended tasks.