Optimal placement of wireless sensor nodes with fault tolerance and minimal energy consumption

In this paper, an evolutionary algorithm is presented to develop a solution for the variable radii sensor placement optimization problem. Sensor nodes are placed in a sensor field such that maximum coverage of the target region is achieved. Coverage is defined in terms of monitoring points of interest. In point coverage, it is desired to place the sensor nodes such that certain target points in the area to be monitored are efficiently covered. The sensors are assumed to have varying communication and sensing radii within specified ranges. To attain a certain degree of fault tolerance, the network is required to have k-connectivity. Therein, the challenge lies in finding a solution that provides the optimal choice and arrangement of sensor nodes with a minimized overall energy consumption. Our devised algorithm places the sensors to form an energy-efficient and fault tolerant network that provides coverage of the given query points.