Topology dependent space filling curves for sensor networks and applications

In this paper we propose an algorithm to construct a “space filling” curve for a sensor network with holes. Mathematically, for a given multi-hole domain R, we generate a path P that is provably aperiodic (i.e., any point is covered at most a constant number of times) and dense (i.e., any point of R is arbitrarily close to P). In a discrete setting as in a sensor network, the path visits the nodes with progressive density, which can adapt to the budget of the path length. Given a higher budget, the path covers the network with higher density. With a lower budget the path becomes proportional sparser. We show how this density-adaptive space filling curve can be useful for applications such as serial data fusion, motion planning for data mules, sensor node indexing, and double ruling type in-network data storage and retrieval. We show by simulation results the superior performance of using our algorithm vs standard space filling curves and random walks.