Enhancing the lifespan of visual sensor networks using a predetermined node deployment strategy

Abstract

Visual sensor networks are widely used for surveillance, environmental monitoring and tracking. However, due to the funneling effect, visual sensor nodes (SNs) close to the sink tend to deplete their energy sooner than SNs farther away from the sink resulting in energy hole problem. This energy hole problem significantly increases the unbalanced energy usage among SNs and leads to premature decrease in network lifetime. Initially, we have analyzed network lifetime and found number of relay nodes and their location has significant influence on limiting the energy hole problem and enhancement of network lifetime. Based on the principle of energy balancing, derived from this analysis, we have developed a heterogeneous SNs deployment strategy leading to an enhancement of network lifetime. Exhaustive simulation is performed to substantiate our claim of energy balancing and subsequent enhancement of network lifetime. Finally, the scheme is compared with one existing deployment scheme. The results confirm our scheme's supremacy over the existing scheme in terms of performance metrics such as energy balancing and network lifetime.