CoRMAC: A Connected Random Topology Formation With Maximal Area Coverage in Wireless Ad-Hoc Networks

Abstract

R1C2Random geometric graphs can be used in constructing topology formations for wireless ad-hoc networks (WANETs), including wireless sensor networks, flying ad-hoc networks, and others. They are useful for energy-saving schemes where a randomly alternating subset of deployed nodes is turned off temporarily (without compromising the network connectivity). This also improves network security by periodically re-routing the data flow, which makes it harder for third parties to run a traffic analysis. In the area and target coverage scenarios, a WANET deployment is desired to have maximal area coverage efficiency, which implies covering the largest possible area using the fewest number of nodes by maintaining the connectivity as well. Although deterministic topology formations offering optimal area coverage are known, a random node deployment method that grants connectivity and area coverage maximality has not been presented, to the best of our knowledge. This study introduces a novel topology formation method, called CoRMAC, that consistently yields tree-formed random geometric graphs that are guaranteed to be connected and offer maximal area coverage for any given area size and node cardinality. The area coverage maximality of CoRMAC is formally proven. Extensive theoretical and computational analyses have been provided to demonstrate its graph-theoretic, Euclidean, and networking features. Moreover, comparisons were made with other approaches to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.