Sensor Deployment as an Optimal Control Problem

Wireless sensor networks are widely used for detection and surveillance applications. In this paper, we develop a novel sensor deployment algorithm by formulating the deployment problem as an optimal control theory problem. Specifically, the problem at hand is modeled as a linear quadratic regulator. In contrast to prior efforts, that mainly rely on heuristics, our formulation offers a complete theoretical framework for deployment. As the complexity of the optimal control based solution is high, we develop a low complexity approximation called max_deficiency algorithm. Using simulation results, we show that the proposed algorithms outperform existing methods by using 10% to 30% fewer number of sensors to satisfy detection requirements.