Connectivity optimization with realistic lifetime constraints for node placement in environmental monitoring

Maximizing network connectivity while maintaining a useful period of lifetime is a challenging design objective for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Satisfying such objective becomes an even more intricate task in harsh operational environments such as those found in forestry applications. While much work has been presented aimed at forestry applications, only a few have addressed the unique characteristics of forestry settings, such as 3-D deployment and operational requirements. In this paper, we introduce a novel deployment strategy for relay nodes in WSNs for forestry applications. The strategy optimizes network connectivity, while guarantying specific network lifetime. Key to our contribution is a revised definition for network lifetime that is more realistic and more fitting to forestry applications. The effectiveness of our strategy is validated through extensive simulation and comparisons.