Mayer–Vietoris sequences and coverage problems in sensor networks

Abstract

A coverage problem of sensor networks is studied. Following recent works by Ghrist et al., in which computational topological methods are applied for the coverage problem, We present an algorithm for the distributed computation of the first homology group of planar Rips complexes. The key idea is to decompose a Rips complex into smaller pieces of subcomplexes, and to make use of Mayer–Vietoris sequences in order to sum up the homology groups of subcomplexes. Combined with a sufficient condition for the coverage which is given in terms of the first homology group, the proposed algorithm enables us to verify the coverage in a distributed manner.