An Actor Placement Algorithm for Wireless Sensor and Actor Network with Different Transmission Ranges

Abstract

Wireless sensor and actor network (WSAN) refers to a group of sensors and actors, which gather information in detection area and perform appropriate actions upon the event area, respectively. To take these actions collaboratively in the whole monitored area, maximal actor coverage along with inter-actor connectivity is desirable. In this paper, we propose an actor placement algorithm for WSAN with different transmission ranges. The algorithm utilizes the minimum connected dominating set (MCDS) construction of sensor network in order to determine the number of actors and their locations. The actors are then positioned to the location of the MCDS in order to maximize coverage and reduce data latency. The paper describes the centralized algorithm and the distributed version in detail respectively. The simulation experiments are conducted with different network density and transmission ranges, and the results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve the smaller connected dominating set (CDS) and the higher actors' coverage performance compare with existing algorithms.