Abstract:

The coverage is a fundamental research issue in WSN because it can be considered as the measure of QoS of the sensing function for a sensor network. In order to evaluate the coverage degrees of the wireless sensor network with arbitrary sensing areas,we transform the area coverage problem to the intersection points’ coverage problem based on regional closeness and computational geometry techniques. An algorithm for calculating the coverage degrees is proposed by analyzing the set of intersection (SI) inside or onto the boundary of the coverage region,and SI includes:(1) the intersecting points or the two end points of the intersecting lines of any two boundaries of sensors; or (2) the intersecting points or the two end points of the intersecting lines between any boundary of a sensor and the boundary of  the coverage region. The coverage degrees of wireless sensor networks are identical to the minimal coverage degrees among SI.

Key words: wireless sensor network, coverage degree, arbitrary sensing areas, algorithm