Deployment Strategy of Shore-Based Cooperative Units for the Internet of Inland Vessels

Abstract

Aiming at the communication network optimization problem of the Internet of Inland Vessels, this work presented a network model and deployment strategy with shore-based cooperative units as network nodes. Firstly, the system architecture and communication mode of the Internet of Inland Vessels were analyzed. The three-layer model of service, data, and transmission of ship–shore communication was established to calculate the ship–shore communication data volume of the system. Then, considering the comprehensiveness of the signal coverage of the base station, a coverage model of two-layer heterogeneous network communication was established. Furthermore, an optimization model of shore-based cooperative unit deployment was established with power consumption, cost, and data transmission rate as the objectives. The multi-objective optimization model was solved by the genetic algorithm. Finally, the proposed deployment strategy was verified through simulation cases. The simulation results showed that the proposed deployment strategy could reduce the deployment cost of shore-based cooperative units based on meeting the communication demand and deploy regional shore-based cooperative units.