Data Collection Using Transmit-Only Sensors and a Mobile Robot in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks are deployed in large numbers to monitor an area of interest. To overcome the scalability issues of large scale wireless sensor networks, mobile robots are introduced. Transmit-only sensors reduce the cost of deployment since they do not need receiver circuit. However, transmit-only sensors can not be used in a homogeneous sensor network since none of the nodes can receive data. In this paper, we propose a framework consisting of transmit-only sensors and a mobile element for data collection. We theoretically analyze the proposed framework, and support it with extensive simulations. We investigate the effect of various system parameters including density of nodes, speed of mobile element, and range of sensors. This work shows that the usage of transmit-only sensors together with a mobile robot is practical.