An Efficient Healing and Hole Detection in Mobile Wireless Sensor Network Based on Distributed and Localized Algorithms

Abstract

The emerging trends of wireless sensor network (WSN) are estimated to afford a wide range of applications, such as battlefield surveillance, environmental monitoring, and smart spaces and so on. The coverage problem is an essential concern in the WSN. In this paper seeks to address the problem of hole detection and healing in mobile WSNs. This paper discuss the main drawbacks of existing solutions and identify four key elements that are critical for ensuring effective coverage in mobile WSNs: (i) Identifying the boundary of Region of Interest, (ii) Finding the coverage holes and estimating their characteristics, (iii) Identifying the best target locations to relocate mobile nodes to repair holes, and (iv) Dispatching mobile nodes to the target locations while minimizing the moving and messaging cost. This paper proposes a lightweight and comprehensive solution called Holes detection and healing, that addresses all of the aforementioned aspects. HEAL is a distributed and localized algorithm that operates in two distinct phases. First, a collaborative mechanism, called Distributed Hole Detection (DHD), is proposed to identify the boundary nodes and discover holes. Second, this paper presents a virtual force- based hole healing algorithm. Unlike existing algorithms, HEAL algorithm relocates only the adequate nodes within the shortest times with the lowest cost. Simulation results shows that HEAL provide a cost-effective and an accurate solution.