Hopping sensor relocation in rugged terrains

Hopping sensors are a type of low cost mobile sensors that are small in size, have limited capability and imprecise movement. However, their unique method of movement makes them suitable for rugged terrains. Sensors may fail when deployed in a rugged terrain or in an obstacle-abundant environment. Therefore, redundant sensors may be identified and relocated to the sensor holes. This paper addresses the problem of relocating such capability-constrained sensors in an obstructive environment. We propose an enhanced quorum-grid solution with binary splitting message forwarding (BSMF), which is decentralized and can detect both existing and newly appearing obstructions in the supplier and consumer cells matching process. Furthermore, a grid-based movement model is introduced for the hopping sensors. Simulation shows that our scheme significantly reduces the communication overhead and achieves relatively constant total energy consumption with varying amount of obstructions.