An Optimal Node Scheduling for Flat Wireless Sensor Networks

The determination of a topology that minimizes the energy consumption and assures the application requirements is one of the greatest challenges about Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). This work presents a dynamic mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model to solve the coverage and connectivity dynamic problems (CCDP) in flat WSNs. The model solution provides a node scheduling scheme indicating the network topology in pre-defined time periods. The objective consists of assuring the coverage area and network connectivity at each period minimizing the energy consumption. The model tests use the optimization commercial package CPLEX 7.0. The results show that the proposed node scheduling scheme allows the network operation during all the defined periods guaranteeing the best possible coverage, and can extend the network lifetime besides the horizon of time.