Ant colony optimization based sensor deployment protocol for wireless sensor networks

Sensor deployment is one of the most important issues in wireless sensor networks, because an efficient deployment scheme can reduce the deployment cost and enhance the detection capability of the wireless sensor networks. In addition, it can enhance the quality of monitoring in wireless sensor networks by increasing the coverage area. Ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm provides a natural and intrinsic way of exploration of search space for multiple knapsack problem (MKP). In this work, we consider the problem of sensor deployment to achieve complete coverage of the service region and maximize the lifetime of the network. We model the deployment problem as the multiple knapsack problem. Based on ACO algorithm, we proposed a deployment scheme to prolong the network lifetime, while ensuring complete coverage of the service region. The simulations show that our algorithm can prolong the lifetime of the network.