UAVs assisted Network Partition Detection and Connectivity Restoration in Wireless Sensor and Actor Networks

Wireless sensor networks have been extensively employed in different data collection and monitoring applications because of their serviceability in harsh environments. The interconnected network is a fundamental requirement for these applications. The simultaneous failure of multiple nodes causes connectivity loss and can partition the network into various segments. It is crucial to identify the partitions in the partitioned network and reconnect them to achieve application-related goals. This paper provides a new Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) assisted Network Partition Detection and Connectivity Restoration (UAV-NetRest) solution encompassing all phases from failure detection to network partition recovery. The proposed algorithm is tested according to detection and recovery time, distance traveled by UAVs in detection and recovery phases, the number of messages transmitted, and the number of deployed relay nodes. The performance of the UAV-NetRest's recovery algorithm is compared with the existing recovery techniques proposed in the literature. The simulation results demonstrate that the UAV-NetRest recovers the network with significantly less recovery time and minimum distance traveled by UAVs. The algorithm deploys minimum relay nodes as compared to other techniques. Network partitioning is an unpredictable incident, and simulation results entirely depend on the number of failed nodes, proximity and topology of network partitions, and the number of UAVs employed. The paper provides a new framework that covers all the aspects required for network partition recovery. This proposed work can be a seed source for future researchers to further optimize the detection and recovery phases.

Automated summary

This paper presents a solution for UAV-assisted network partition detection and connectivity restoration. The proposed algorithm outperforms existing techniques in terms of recovery time, distance traveled by UAVs, and number of relay nodes deployed. The paper also provides a new framework covering all aspects required for network partition recovery.