A Distributed Actor Deployment Algorithm for Maximum Connected

Coverage in WSAN

Ren Xiao-ping, Cai Zi-xing
School of Information Science & Engineering, Central South University,
Changsha ,410083,China
Email:xiaopingren@gmail.com; zxcai@mail.csu.edu.cn


Abstract

Wireless sensor and actor networks receive more
interests with the appearance of wireless sensor
networks weakness and the development of robotics.
In this new autonomous network, actors are deployed
to cover the monitored area, receiving sense data from
sensors and taking proper actions. In this paper, we
presented a distributed actor deployment algorithm for
maximum coverage. We prove that regular six-polygon
can achieve maximum coverage with the least waste,
and our approach is based on it. This distributed
algorithm moves actor nodes to extend their coverage
while maintaining sensor-actor connectivity and with
less blind-areas. Finally all actors can reach
equilibrium by this self-excitation mechanism. The
performance of our algorithm is validated analytically
and experimentally.

1. Introduction

A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is a self-
organizing network with potential applications in
autonomous monitoring, urban search and rescue
[1]
. It
consists of a group of static nodes, which are deployed
in large quantities to form an autonomous network.
However, they can only perform one task. Recently the
development of robotics enables Wireless Sensor and
Actor Networks (WSANs) receive more and more
attentions, because WSAN is integrated by a large
quantity of sensor nodes and a few number of special
nodes called as actuators or actors
[2]
. Coordination and
cooperation between sensor and actor are required to
provide the best response, so reliable communication
and maximum coverage of sensors and actors is
required in WSANs applications.
Sensor nodes are small, inexpensive, usually with
limited power, computation resources, and
communication capabilities, and these devices behave
like passive elements which monitor the environment.
Sensors may not only stop by fault but also suffer from
arbitrary faults. Furthermore, wireless communication
is less reliable due to noise and shortage of power of
sensors. Actor nodes are resource-rich and usually
mobile, and these characteristics enable an actor that
can make independent decisions to execute appropriate
actions in accordance to the collected information. In
practical application, one case is that WSANs often
operate unattended in harsh environments where actors
can easily fail or get damaged; another case is that
sensors may stop work because of the power
limitations or failure. Such failures can partition the
sensor-actor network, form a hole in the monitoring
fields and thus eventually make the whole network
useless
[3]
. Mobile actors can move around to cover the
sensing field and interact with static sensors, this
mobility and decision making ability brings WSANs
some extents of fault-tolerance. If failures happen to
WSANs, actors decision making process should check
the fault rapidly, and form a connected network among
sensors and actors in order to make WSANs can
continue to work for some time.
This paper is organized as follows: the next section
describes the related work. Section 3 discusses the
system model, assumptions. Details of our approach
are discussed in section 4 and the experiment of the
approach is in section 5. Section 6 concludes the paper
with a summary and our planned future extensions.

2. Related Work

Node deployment is an essential and important
issue in WSANs, because it not only determines the
energy cost and communication delays for sensors
network, but also affects how efficient and maximum a
region is covered and monitored by sensors and actors.
Many researches on nodes deployment have been
done in WSANs regarding fault tolerance and coverage
respectively. For example, the work in [4] presents a
distributed Partition Detection and Recovery
Algorithm(PADRA) which can determine possible
partitioning in advance and recover the connectivity in
2009 Fifth International Conference on Natural Computation
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2009 Fifth International Conference on Natural Computation
978-0-7695-3736-8/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ICNC.2009.247
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2009 Fifth International Conference on Natural Computation
978-0-7695-3736-8/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ICNC.2009.247
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2009 Fifth International Conference on Natural Computation
978-0-7695-3736-8/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ICNC.2009.247
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2009 Fifth International Conference on Natural Computation
978-0-7695-3736-8/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ICNC.2009.247
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2009 Fifth International Conference on Natural Computation
978-0-7695-3736-8/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ICNC.2009.247
283
2009 Fifth International Conference on Natural Computation
978-0-7695-3736-8/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ICNC.2009.247
283
2009 Fifth International Conference on Natural Computation
978-0-7695-3736-8/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ICNC.2009.247
283
2009 Fifth International Conference on Natural Computation
978-0-7695-3736-8/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ICNC.2009.247
283
2009 Fifth International Conference on Natural Computation
978-0-7695-3736-8/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ICNC.2009.247
283
2009 Fifth International Conference on Natural Computation
978-0-7695-3736-8/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ICNC.2009.247
283
case of such failures. If a partitioning is to occur,
PADRA designates one of the neighboring nodes to
initiate the connectivity restoration process. This
process involves repositioning of a set of actors in
order to restore the connectivity. However it only
considered inter-actor network, handling the failure of
actor nodes locally. Holes formed by the failure of
sensor nodes are not concerned here. Similarly, a fault-
tolerant model called multi-actor/multi-sensor
(MAMS) was discussed in [5]. In this model, each
sensor sends information to multiple actors and an
actor receives sensed information on a same event
from multiple sensors. Even if some sensors are faulty
and messages are lost in the wireless link, each actor
can receive proper sensed information from the other
proper sensors. This fault-tolerant strategy depends on
the redundancy of information, once some fields
sensors is useless and cannot sense the environment,
this method cant help to guarantee this fields are still
be under control.
Akkaya and Janapala proposed a distributed actor
deployment algorithm that strived to maximize the
coverage and maintain the inter-actor connectivity
[6].They were inspired by the principle of repulsion in
physics when the molecules start diffusing in order to
reach equilibrium. As is shown in fig.1, their
deployment algorithm was based on triangular grid,
and still there are uncovered areas (shadow areas).
Once sensors deploy in this areas, actors can not sense
the existence of these nodes. In this paper, we present a
Distributed Actor Deployment Algorithm for
Maximum Coverage, namely DA
2
MC, which is
inspired by [6] and [8]. The main concern of this paper
is achieving maximum actor coverage under some
limitations, solving the problem that how to deploy
actor nodes in order to maximize the coverage of actor
nodes without blind-monitor-area.
ij
d
c
r
s
r

Figure 1.Actor deployment based on triangular grid

3. Problem description and system
modeling

We assume a WSAN operate randomly throughout
a Field of Interest (FoI). The number of actors is
limited since the robot is expensive. All the sensor
nodes are homogeneous, that means the same abilities
(communication distance
c
r and sensor distance
s
r , the
difference is shown in fig.1), and so do actor nodes.
Actors can discover each other and collaborate with
other actors in the filed through wireless
communication, and they can also collect and transmit
sensors data. One efficient actor deployment
algorithm should meet the following requirement: the
actor nodes can coverage all the FoI without less
uncovered areas; for the limitation of the actors
number, the covered area should maximize; maintain
the inter-actor connectivity.
For the actors communication range is a circle, first
consider a simple scenario of deployment, which is
covering a regular square fields with a circle. We can
substitute circle with inscribed regular polygon to
cover the FoI
[7]
. We assume that there are mangles of
regular N polygon around a vertex, the equation of the
angels is:
( 2)
2
2
(1 ) 2
N
m
N
m
N

= =
(1)
Then we can list the following restriction
equations (2):
*
2
2
, , 2, 2 Z
2
(1 ) 2
m
N
m n m N
m
N
>
>

=

(2)
From (2) we can get three answers:

2 4, 2 1 6, 3
2 2, 2 2 4, 4
2 1, 2 4 3, 6
N m N m
N m N m
N m N m
= = = =
= = = =
= = = =

(3)
This results show that there are three ways to cover
a plane area using inscribed regular polygon: (a) using
six equilateral triangles; (b) using four squares; (c)
using three regular hexagons.
Then two circles public area was shown in Fig.
2. AB was one border of the inscribed regular N
polygon, arc

ADB s central angle is 2 /n .
1
O A is
actors communication radius,
c
r ; area of
1
AOB is
2
1/ 2sin(2 / )
c
n r and area of sector
1
AO B is
2
1/ 2(2 / )
c
n r ,so the shadows area
s
A in the figure
is:
2 2
1/ 2(2 / ) 1/ 2sin(2 / )
s c c
A n r n r = (4)
284 284 284 284 284 284 284 284 284 284 284
c
r

Figure 2. Two circles public area
Then we can calculate two circles public area
is
n
scale of one circle:

2 2
2 2
2 1/ 2(2 / ) 1/ 2sin(2 / )
2
s c c
n
c c
A n r n r
r r

= =


/ sin(2 / ) / 2
2
n n

= (5)
Let 3, 4, 6 n n n = = = , and we can get the results
that
3
39.10% = ,
4
18.17% = ,
6
5.77% = .
Now we prove that using regular six polygons can
reach maximum coverage and maintain all the areas
are covered by actors .We define the system models as
follows: Given n actors and m sensors placed
randomly in FoI. Assuming that actor and sensors
know their locations and neighbors. We are interested
in redeploy nodes in order to form a connected network
that maximizes area coverage.

4. Distributed Actor Deployment
Algorithm for Maximum Coverage

In section 3, we prove that regular six polygon can
be used to achieve maximum coverage with least
waste, and deploy nodes can be carried out through a
global manner. We presents Distributed Actor
Deployment Algorithm for Maximum Coverage
(DA
2
MC), which can stimulate actors can reach
equilibrium by self-excitation. DA
2
MC moves actor
nodes to extend their coverage while maintaining
sensor-actor connectivity and without blind-monitor-
area. This distributed manner was inspired by [6] and
[8].Each node has repelling forces to move the actors
for better area coverage and pulling forces to ensure
actor-sensor connectivity.
As is shown in Fig.3, assuming that there are only
three nodes
1 2 3
, , O O O , which are deployed in FoI
randomly,
12
f

is the repelling force on

2
O from
1
O ,
and
32
f

is repelling force on
2
O from
3
O .
ij
f

can be
confirmed by(6):

( ) 2
0, 2
ij ij c
ij
ij c
f d if d r
f
if d r
<
=

(6)
32
f

12 f

12 32
f f +

1 1
( , ) x y
3 3
( , ) x y
2 2
( , ) x y
' '
2 2
( , ) x y
c
r
3
2
c
r
2
c
r
2
y k x b = +
3
c
r
3 c r
60

Figure 3. (a) Initial deployment of nodes and forces
analyses (b)
2
O move to a new location by forces
While the direction angle
ij
is arctan( )
ij
k ,
ij
k is
line slope from node i to j . Since there may be
several forces effecting on an actor node, the node
should get the combined forces based on vector
addition method.
Assume that the coordinates of actors
1
O ,
2( ) old
O ,
2( ) new
O ,
3
O are
1 1
( , ) x y ,
2 2
( , ) x y ,
' '
2 2
( , ) x y
and
3 3
( , ) x y respectively.
12
k and
32
k can be computed
as follows
[8]
:
12 12 2 1 2 1
32 32 3 2 3 2
tan ( ) /( )
tan ( ) /( )
k y y x x
k y y x x

= =

= =

(7)
From (7) we can compute
12
sin ,
12
cos , and the
same to
32
sin and
32
cos .Then we can compute the
final addition of two vectors
12
f

and
12
f

on
2
O
through
2 12 12
F f f = +

.That means:
2 2
2 12 32 12 32 12 32 12 32
2 (sin sin cos cos ) F f f f f = + + +

(8)
The direction of
2
F

is:

2 2
32 12 12 32
2
2 2
12 32 12 32 12 32
1 ( ) 1 ( )
1 ( ) 1 ( )
k f d k f d
k
k k f d k k f d
+ + +
=
+ + +
(9)
Akkaya defines ( ) ( ) / 2
ij c i j
f d r d = , where
2 2
( ) ( )
ij j i j i
d y y x x = + . In experiment we are
prone to adopt
2
( ) 1/
ij ij
f d d , but the results are not
as good as we assumed. So we choose the same
expression as [8].
2 2
12 32 32 12
2
2 2
12 12 32 32 32 12
( ) 1 ( ) 1
( ) 1 ( ) 1
c c
c c
r d k r d k
k
k r d k k r d k
+ + +
=
+ + +
(10)
2
F

promotes
2( ) old
O move to a new location
2( ) new
O ,the equation of track is
2
y k x b = + .
Applying
2 2
( , ) x y to it,
2 2 2
b y k x = ,then we can
get:
285 285 285 285 285 285 285 285 285 285 285

' '
2 2 2 2 2 2
y k x y k x = + (11)
Actor nodes movement must satisfy inter-actor
connectivity, as shown in equation (12), 3 / 2
c
r is
distance of
3
O C ,computing method is in fig.3(b).
' 2 ' 2 2
1 2( ) 2 1 2 1
' 2 ' 2 2
3 2( ) 2 3 2 3
( ) ( ) ( 3 )
( ) ( ) ( 3 )

= + =

= + =

new c
new c
OO y y x x r
O O y y x x r
(12)
Some symbols explanations:
A: Area in which actor nodes and sensors nodes
operate.
G : Aggregate of all the actor nodes in WSAN.
i : ID number of an actor node in WSAN, each
nodes has a different number.
N : Number of actor nodes in WSAN.
( ) d i : Node degree of node i .
( , )
i i
x y : Coordinate of node i .
i
L : Neighbor list of node i .
i
r : Maximum communication distance of node i ,
here is a constant
c
r .
: Interval of broadcast an Ack message, is a
random value between[0, ] AckInterval .
DA
2
MC Procedure:
i. Initially each node in A broadcasts an Ack
message with its ID and coordinate ( , )
i i
x y every
other time.
ii. When i receives Ack from j , it updates
i
L
unceasingly.
iii. Compute ( ) d i according to
i
L , adds it to Ack
message and broadcasts this updated Ack message.
iv. i compares its ( ) d i with its neighbors in
i
L ,if it
has the maximum value in its neighborhood, begin to
compute new location by using equation (10)-(12),
then go to procedure v; if ( ) d i = ( ) d j , then go to
vii, else go to vi.
v. i updates its new location in Ack message and
send Leaving message to inform its neighbors.
vi. i listens to Ack message until it hears Leaving
message from neighbors, then go to iv.
vii.Compare ID number, if < i j , then i go to
iv, j go to vi.
viii. i G , i reach to an equilibrium status,
algorithm ends.

5. Experiment of DA
2
MC

DA
2
MC was realized under a visualized emulator
wrote by C++ language and MATLAB. We can set
numbers of nodes, maximum communication distance
and size of operation area A. In this experiment, the
size is1500 1500
2
m , and 1000 nodes were randomly
deployed in A. All the actor nodes are homogeneous.

Figure 4. (a)Initial deployment of nodes in A (b)
Initial topology of 15 actor-nodes

(c) The movement directions of nodes (d) Final
deployment of 15 nodes
In fig.4 (a), actor nodes are deployed randomly
in A.The connectivity of inter-nodes are chaotic, and
node O are separated far from other nodes. The
covered areas of nodes are obviously redundant. Fig.4
(b) shows the topology of these actor nodes, we can
compute the degrees of any actor node, which
represent the number of neighbor actors. Degrees of
each node are shown in the second column of
table1.Main part of DA
2
MC is shown in fig.4(c).Each
node finds its neighbor nodes, estimating the distance
and the direction of composition of virtual forces. Then
they move to a middle destination and then operate a
new query and calculation procedure, this procedure
repeatedly and gradually improve the area coverage
without violating the inter-actor connectivity. One
result is shown in the fifth column of table1. Specially,
isolated node O doesnt take part in the first DA
2
MC
procedure. As long as it can communicate with the
other nodes, it begins to join in this process.
Fig.4(d)shows the final deployment of 15 nodes.
286 286 286 286 286 286 286 286 286 286 286
Table 1. Destination of original nodes
n d Original k Unopti. Dest. Dest. d(un) d(opt.)
A 6 (710.8,744.8) 0.23 (781.3,761.2) (759.3,756.1) 72.4 49.8
B 5 (732.0,746.8) 4.34 (764.5,888.0) (764.5,888.0) 144.9 144.9
C 5 (764.9,922.4) 0.49 (778.2,929.0) (870.2,974.4) 14.8 117.4
D 5 (719.1,847.5) 1.96 (778.5,964.0) (784.5,975.9) 130.8 144.1
E 4 (627.2,732.7) -4.23 (629.0,725.3) (643.4,664.3) 7.6 70.3
F 4 (698.7,841.3) 0.58 (821.5,912.2 ) (670.1,824.7) 141.8 33.1
G 3 (679.2,978.3) 0.19 (847.4,1010.3) (649.1,972.6) 171.2 30.6
H 3 (723.8,664.1) -0.12 (810.0,651.8) (896.4,645.7) 87.0 173.6
I 2 (604.4,765.1) -0.86 (593.5,774.5) (580.5,785.7) 14.4 31.6
J 2 (822.0,850.3) -1.62 (846.8,810.2) (885.6,747.3) 47.1 121.1
K 2 (743.5,977.1) -1.35 (704.4,1030.1) (840.3,846.6) 65.9 162.5
L 1 (846.4,647.2) -0.03 (772.2,649.4) (772.2,649.4) 74.2 74.2
M 1 (609.4,944.9) 0.48 (569.3,925.7) (569.3,925.7) 510.7 44.5
N 1 (895.6,645.9) -0.03 (1020.6,642.0)
(1020.6,642.0
)
125.1 125.1
O 0 (978.6,796.6) -3.82 (991.5,747.3) 51.0
In the experiment of DA
2
MC, we evaluate the
performance of DA
2
MC. When all the nodes reach a
equilibrium, average distance actors traveled is
91.6 m , whereas this value is 114.9 m when they
move to a unoptimizable destination, which means
iterative application of DA
2
MC can get a better
configuration result at the cost of time. The
connectivity-rate of inter-nodes is22.0% and coverage
area is 147245.1
2
m , before we applied DA
2
MC
coverage area is 108693.6
2
m .Coverage area expands
about 35.47%.

6. Conclusions

WSANs are more and more popular in recent years,
and receive an increased interest of researchers. In
WSAN, a set of mobile actor nodes are deployed in
addition to sensors in order to collect sensors data and
perform specific tasks. The main goal of DA
2
MC is
maximizing the coverage of actor nodes with the
limitations of inter-actor communications. This idea is
inspired by combination of virtual repelling forces in
order to estimate the directions and locations of nodes
movement.
Since this scheme may not connect all actors, in our
experiment of DA
2
MC, the connectivity rate is 22.0%,
but the coverage area extends obviously, by 35.47%.
DA
2
MC is completely distributed, in the future, we
plan to apply this approach to a real WSANs scenario.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant
90820302 and 60805027, Research Fund for the
Doctoral Program of Higher Education under Grant
200805330005, Academician Foundation of Hunan
Province under Grant 2009FJ4030, and also in part by
Quality and Supervision Commonweal Profession
Research Project under Grant 200810002.

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