Coverage and Connectivity in WSNs: A Survey, Research Issues and Challenges

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) consist of several battery powered sensor nodes. The sensing coverage of the Field of Interest (FoI) is an important function of the sensor nodes in connected WSNs. A FoI is said to be covered if each point in the FoI is monitored by at least one sensor node. Due to small size, battery power supply, simple architecture, and light weight Operating System of the sensor nodes, maintaining the desired coverage of the FoI consists various issues and challenges in a connected WSN. This paper surveys the existing work done to address various issues and challenges for solving the coverage and connectivity problems in WSNs. Our discussion emphasis on sensing models, classification of coverage, research issues in WSNs and practical challenges in deployment of WSNs. We review a brief but complete overview of the various solutions of coverage problems in connected WSNs and describing insights into issues and challenges for research in this area.