A New k-Coverage Model To Determine Redundant Sensors in Wireless Sensor Networks

Maintaining k-coverage in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) requires the simultaneous activation of a large number of sensors. Indeed, each location in the sensing field should be covered by at least k nodes, (k > 1). Sensors, in most k-coverage scenarios, may be redundant because of overlaps in their sensing disks. We propose a new k-coverage model able to accurately determine redundant sensors with a linear running time complexity. We prove that a sensor is redundant, if its neighbors belong to particular sub-regions within its sensing disk. Simulation results confirm that the proposed algorithm outperforms well-known k-coverage protocols, in terms of energy conservation, network lifetime and coverage performance.