On Connected Target k-Coverage in Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks

Coverage and connectivity are two important performance evaluation indices for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In this paper, we focus on the connected target k-coverage (CTCk) problem in heterogeneous wireless sensor networks (HWSNs). A centralized connected target k-coverage algorithm (CCTCk) and a distributed connected target k-coverage algorithm (DCTCk) are proposed so as to generate connected cover sets for energy-efficient connectivity and coverage maintenance. To be specific, our proposed algorithms aim at achieving minimum connected target k-coverage, where each target in the monitored region is covered by at least k active sensor nodes. In addition, these two algorithms strive to minimize the total number of active sensor nodes and guarantee that each sensor node is connected to a sink, such that the sensed data can be forwarded to the sink. Our theoretical analysis and simulation results show that our proposed algorithms outperform a state-of-art connected k-coverage protocol for HWSNs.