Network Deployment:

• Obstacle-Free Robot Deployment Algorithms for Wireless Sensor Networks
• Node deployment is an important issue in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Sensor nodes should be efficiently deployed in a predetermined region in a manner of low cost and high coverage quality. We proposed an efficient obstacle-free robot deployment algorithm which involves the designs of node placement policy, serpentine movement policy, obstacle handling rules, and boundary rules. By applying the proposed algorithm, the robot rapidly deploys near-minimal number of sensor nodes to achieve full sensing coverage even though there exist unpredicted obstacles.


• Main achievements and outcomes
• Research or technology outcomes
• The developed robot deployment algorithm outperforms the existing related study in terms of the coverage quality and the number of deployed sensors. This result was published in IEEE WCNC 2007.

• Sub-optimal Step-by-step Node Deployment Algorithm for User Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks
• We have proposed, based on a universal performance evaluation metric, a low-complexity, step-by-step node deployment algorithm which provides sub-optimal solutions feasible for large-scale WSNs. This proposed node deployment algorithm has the computational complexity linearly proportional to the number of available nodes, and is flexible for different system scenarios, including the cases with a non-homogeneous user distribution and with an irregular sensing area. It is found that the proposed deployment algorithm can provide flexible network topologies with very good location estimation performance.


• Main achievements and outcomes
• Research or technology outcomes
• As far as we know, no systematic node deployment algorithm for user localization in wireless sensor networks has been proposed. This work has been presented at IEEE SUTC 2008.

• Non-uniform Node Deployment for Lifetime Extension in Large-scale Randomly Distributed Wireless Sensor Networks
• We have proposed two non-uniform node deployment strategies for multi-hop routing and clustering-based routing. The sensing coverage, message forwarding and energy consumption issues are well examined and taken into consideration in our proposed deployment strategies. The iterative algorithms that figure out the optimal node density distribution fitting to the energy consumption distribution have been devised. The proposed node deployment strategies can significantly improve the sensing coverage performance.


• Main achievements and outcomes
• Research or technology outcomes
• As far as we know, the sensing coverage, message forwarding and energy consumption issues have not been well examined in previous works focusing on the node deployment issue. This work has been presented at IEEE AINA 2008.