A Deployment Algorithm for Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks based on the Electrostatic Field Theory

This paper proposes a deployment algorithm based on the electrostatic field theory for mobile wireless sensor networks. The nodes and obstacles in the deployment area are taken as the charged particles; and the particles will move due to the Coulomb’s force from other particles or obstacles. Finally, the nodes automatically spread to the whole area by the resultant action and complete the deployment. Four metrics, including coverage, uniformity, deployment time and average displacement distance, are used to evaluate the performance of the algorithm. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can give full play to its self-adaptive advantages and achieve the desired deployment effect; it is a kind of deployment algorithm with self-adaptive characteristics.