Efficient data gathering in distributed hybrid sensor networks using multiple mobile agents

Abstract

Mobile agent based data gathering in Distributed Sensor Networks (DSN) has been a topic of significant research in recent years. In this paper, we consider a network architecture for DSN that makes use of hybrid nodes with RF and Ultra-wideband (UWB) communication. It uses a cluster based approach with reduced connectivity constraint between cluster heads. Each cluster of sensor nodes (and the corresponding cluster head) will be working as an independent unit, with mobile agents such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or mobile robots used to gather the data from the cluster heads. Intra-cluster data gathering will be done using traditional RF communication. Cluster heads will also be equipped with UWB transmitters to transfer data with high rate to mobile agents. Further, we also propose a multiple mobile agent based data gathering algorithm (MMDG) that takes into account the priority of data and life time of the cluster heads. Simulation based analysis is used to show the effectiveness of algorithm in terms of time of tour, network coverage and life-time of the cluster heads.