Multipath-based relocation schemes considering balanced assignment for hopping sensors

When sensors in wireless sensor networks fail or become energy-exhausted, redundant mobile sensors might be moved to cover the sensing holes created by the failed sensors. Within rugged terrains where wheeled sensors are unsuitable, other types of mobile sensors, such as hopping sensors, are needed. In this paper, we address the problem of relocating hopping sensors to the sensing holes. Recent study for this problem considered moving sensors along the shortest path. The shortest path might be used repeatedly and therefore create other sensing holes. In order to overcome these weak nesses, we propose multipath-based schemes considering the balanced assignment for the relocation of hopping sensors. Simulation results show that the proposed schemes guarantee a more balanced migration distribution of efficient sensors and a higher movement success ratio of required sensors than those of the shortest path-based schemes.