On deploying relays for connected indoor sensor networks

Abstract

This paper considers the crucial problem of deploying wireless relays for achieving a connected wireless sensor network in indoor environments, an important aspect related to the management of the sensor network. Several algorithms have been proposed for ensuring full sensing coverage and network connectivity. These algorithms are not applicable to indoor environments because of the complexity of indoor environments, in which a radio signal can be dramatically degraded by obstacles such as walls. We first prove theoretically that the indoor relay placement problem is NP-hard. We then predict the radio coverage of a given relay deployment in indoor environments. We consider two practical scenarios; wire-connected relays and radio-connected relays. For the network with wire-connected relays, we propose an efficient greedy algorithm to compute the deployment locations of relays for achieving the required coverage percentage. This algorithm is proved to provide a H n factor approximation to the theoretical optimum, where H n = 1 + 1/2 + ⋯ + 1/n = ln(n) + 1, and n is the number of all grid points. In the network with radio-connected relays, relays have to be connected in an ad hoc mode. We then propose an algorithm based on the previous algorithm for ensuring the connectivity of relays. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms achieve better performance than baseline algorithms.