Self-Deployment of Mobile Sensor Networks in Complex Indoor Environments

A self-deployment algorithm for mobile sensor networks is proposed in this paper. The algorithm is designed to be used in scenarios that the deployment areas are inside complex-shaped buildings and are inaccessible to humans. The self-deployment algorithm combines the potential field method and the certainty grid method. The proposed approach does not require localization or communication and permits inaccurate range sensor data. Coverage area, coverage rate and deployment time are used as metrics to evaluate the performance of our algorithm. Simulation results show that the network coverage increases a lot after deployment and is sufficient to ensure the reliability of distributed measurement

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