Abstract
Sensor nodes in a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) can be dispersed over a remote sensing area (e.g., the regions that are hardly accessed by human beings). In such kinds of networks, data collection becomes one of the major issues. Getting connected to each sensor node and retrieving the information in time introduces new challenges. Mobile sink usage—especially Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)—is the most convenient approach to covering the area and accessing each sensor node in such a large-scale WSN. However, the operation of the UAV depends on some parameters, such as endurance time, altitude, speed, radio type in use, and the path. In this paper, we explore various UAV mobility patterns that follow different paths to sweep the operation area in order to seek the best area coverage with the maximum number of covered nodes in the least amount of time needed by the mobile sink. We also introduce a new metric to formulate the tradeoff between maximizing the covered nodes and minimizing the operation time when choosing the appropriate mobility pattern. A realistic simulation environment is used in order to compare and evaluate the performance of the system. We present the performance results for the explored UAV mobility patterns. The results are very useful to present the tradeoff between maximizing the covered nodes and minimizing the operation time to choose the appropriate mobility pattern.
Highlights
Proliferating real-world implementations of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and an abundant number of studies for decades have proven that Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) are one key enabling technology for monitoring environments, in military, and in industry and civil areas [1]
The radio is realistically modeled in MiXiM with TI CC2420 NIC which contains a physical (PHY) layer and a medium access control (MAC) layer to interact with the network (NETW) layer
The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has been equipped with the same type of radio (TI CC2420) in order to be able to communicate with the cluster heads (CHs)
Summary
Proliferating real-world implementations of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and an abundant number of studies for decades have proven that WSNs are one key enabling technology for monitoring environments, in military, and in industry and civil areas [1]. Large or remote area deployments introduce additional challenges, such as connectivity and maintenance, in addition to the well-known issues such as poor communication environment, limited resources (battery, central processing unit (CPU), and memory), and limited bandwidth. To cope with these challenges, clustering is one promising solution applied in WSNs [2,3]. Multi-hop communication is a promising solution achieved by routing the data to the sink node, it brings performance degradation and increases the cost in large-scale deployments. Considering the speed of the mobile sink node and the size of the remotely monitored areas, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are the best option to cover all area in a short period of time [9,10,11,12]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
