Bounding Path Exposure in Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Networks Using Pathsets and Cutsets

In this work, we consider a fundamental wireless sensor network (WSN) problem where the network is deployed to guard against unauthorized traversal along a given path. Nodes are assumed to utilize energy harvesting from the ambient environment, and fluctuations in a node’s energy are assumed to affect its transmission range. In this context, we investigate a problem called the path exposure with range uncertainty (EXPO-RU) problem that asks for the likelihood that the EH-WSN can provide joint detection and reporting of the traversal. The problem models the EH-WSN using a probabilistic graph where each node is associated with multiple possible states. We present algorithms for deriving lower and upper bounds from operating and failed network configurations, respectively. We discuss properties of the presented methods, present numerical results that illustrate their usefulness, and draw remarks on the obtained numerical results.