Over provisioning rate in three-dimensional wireless sensor networks for partial sensing coverage

Abstract

Recent advances have witnessed the success and popularity of three dimensional (3D) wireless sensor network (WSN) applications. The majority of existing works however consider a 2D plane and the results can not be applied to the 3D cases directly due to the addition of a new dimension. In this paper, we investigate the deployment efficiency problem in a random 3D WSN in term of over-provisioning rate and node demanding rate for application-specific partial α sensing coverage. We approach the problem through an integrated framework using mathematical modeling, numerical analysis, and simulation validation. We show that there exists a critical sensing coverage (α = 0.9) below which the over provisioning rate increases gradually and above which the over-provisioning rate increases very rapidly. For example, 130% more sensors will be required to achieve 5% increase in the sensing coverage when the base coverage reaches 0.9. Further, the node demanding rate increases sharply even for a small extent of sensing coverage improvement when the base coverage is beyond 0.9. Simulation results match with the numerical results and validate the modeling, analysis, and conclusions. This work identifies the benefits of employing application-tolerable partial sensing coverage and provides insights into the deployment and implementation of 3D sensor networks for practical reference.