Title: Self-healing sensor networks with distributed decision making

Authors: Xiaojiang (James) Du, Ming Zhang, Kendall E. Nygard, Sghaier Guizani, Hsiao-Hwa Chen

Addresses: Department of Computer Science, North Dakota State University, Fargo ND 58105, USA. ' Department of Computer Science, North Dakota State University, Fargo ND 58105, USA. ' Department of Computer Science, North Dakota State University, Fargo ND 58105, USA. ' Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Quebec, Trois-Riviere, QC, Canada. ' Institute of Communications Engineering, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

Abstract: Sensor random locations and sensor failures can cause coverage holes, routing voids and disconnections and thus degrade sensor network performance. In this paper, we present a self-healing approach that utilises a few mobile sensors to deal with the problems. A mobile sensor can move to an area with a coverage hole or routing void and significantly improve network performance. We design distributed algorithms to detect coverage holes, estimate hole size and repair holes. A mobile sensor may receive multiple repair requests from different areas and it may not have complete information of the network. We present a fuzzy-logic-based distributed decision-making algorithm for mobile sensors. Extensive simulations demonstrate the good performance of proposed algorithms.

Keywords: sensor networks; self-healing; mobile sensors; distributed decision making; fuzzy logic; wireless networks; coverage holes; routing voids; disconnections; network performance; simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSNET.2007.014354

International Journal of Sensor Networks, 2007 Vol.2 No.5/6, pp.289 - 298

Published online: 03 Jul 2007 *

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