Lifetime Maximization Based on Coverage and Connectivity in Wireless Sensor Networks

We consider information retrieval in a wireless sensor network deployed to monitor a spatially correlated random field. We address optimal sensor scheduling and information routing under the performance measure of network lifetime. Both single-hop and multi-hop transmissions from sensors to an access point are considered. For both cases, we formulate the problems as integer programming based on the theories of coverage and connectivity in sensor networks. We derive upper bounds for the network lifetime that provide performance benchmarks for suboptimal solutions. Suboptimal sensor scheduling and data routing algorithms are proposed to approach the lifetime upper bounds with reduced complexity. In the proposed algorithms, we consider the impact of both the network geometry and the energy consumption in communications and relaying on the network lifetime. Simulation examples are used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithms as compared to the lifetime upper bounds.