Title: Connectivity restoration in delay-tolerant sensor networks using game theory

Authors: Izzet Senturk; Sabri Yilmaz; Kemal Akkaya

Addresses: Department of Computer Science, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA. ' Department of Economics, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA. ' Department of Computer Science, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA

Abstract: Due to limited resources and harsh environments, partitioning can be inevitable in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). To re-establish network connectivity, healthy mobile sensor nodes can be repositioned in an on-demand basis. However, the nodes are equipped with limited batteries and their movement requires excessive energy consumption. In this paper, we address the problem of minimising the movement cost when re-establishing network connectivity in delay tolerant WSNs by presenting a distributed heuristic approach based on Game Theory. Compared to centralised heuristics which assume complete knowledge of the network and failures, this approach is self-healing that can work with uncertain network/failure information. Under limited knowledge on partitions and failure locations, Game Theory is used to facilitate decision making on the selection of the nodes to be moved and their movement directions. Extensive simulations have revealed the efficiency of the proposed approach in terms of movement distance and network coverage.

Keywords: delay-tolerant WSNs; distributed recovery; connectivity restoration; mobility; game theory; partitioning; wireless sensor networks; network connectivity; self-healing; uncertainty; failure locations; node movement; node selection; movement distance; network coverage.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAHUC.2012.050268

International Journal of Ad Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing, 2012 Vol.11 No.2/3, pp.109 - 124

Received: 14 Mar 2012
Accepted: 20 May 2012
Published online: 13 Nov 2012 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article