Adaptive Autonomy in Wireless Sensor Networks

• Moving nodes in a Mobile Wireless Sensor Network (MWSN) typically have two maintenance objectives: (i) extend the coverage of the network as long as possible to a target area, and (ii) extend the longevity of the network as much as possible. As nodes move and also route traffic in the network, their battery levels deplete differently for each node. Dead nodes lead to loss of connectivity and even to disengaging full parts of the network. Several reactive and rule-based approaches have been proposed to solve this issue by adapting redeployment to depleted nodes. However, in large networks a cooperative approach may increase performance by taking the evolution of node battery and traffic into account. In this paper, we present a hybrid agent-based architecture that addresses the problem of depleting nodes during the maintenance phase of a MWSN. Agents, each assigned to a node, collaborate and adapt their behaviour to their battery levels. The collaborative behavior is modeled through the willingness to interact abstraction, which defines when agents ask and give help to one another. Thus, depleting nodes may ask to be replaced by healthier counterparts and move to areas with less traffic or to a collection point. At the lower level, negotiations trigger a reactive navigation behaviour based on Social Potential Fields (SPF). It is shown that the proposed method improves coverage and extends network longevity in an environment without obstacles as compared to SPF alone.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik -- Datorsystem (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering -- Computer Systems (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

self-organisation; multi-robot systems; networked systems and dis-tributed robotics

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)