On Coverage Problems of Directional Sensor Networks

In conventional sensor networks, the sensors often are based on omni-sensing model. However, directional sensing range and sensors are great application chances, typically in video sensor networks. Thus, the directional sensor network also demands novel solutions, especially for deployment policy and sensor’s scheduling. Toward this end, this paper evaluates the requirements of deploying directional sensors for a given coverage probability. Moreover, the paper proposes how to solve the connectivity problem for randomly deployed sensors under the directional communication model. The paper proposes a method for checking and repairing the connectivity of directional sensor networks for two typical cases. We design efficient protocols to implement our idea. A set of experiments are also performed to prove the effectivity of our solution. The results of this paper can be also used to solve the coverage problem of traditional sensor networks as a special case.