Extension Algorithms for Path Exposure in Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Networks

Our work in this paper concerns a wireless sensor network (WSN) problem, called the path exposure with communication range uncertainty (EXPO-RU) problem. Nodes in the network are assumed to rely on energy harvesting from the ambient environment to achieve prolonged operation of a WSN deployed to monitor unauthorized traversal along a given path. Fluctuations in the harvested energy are assumed to affect each node’s transmission range. A 3-state probabilistic model where each node can be either in a full, reduced, or depleted energy state is used. We present two algorithms that complement existing algorithms in the literature to assess the reliability of a given energy harvesting wireless sensor network (EH-WSN). Each algorithm provides a basic tool that enables the construction of many other algorithms to bound the exact solution of the problem. We also present numerical results that show the impact of using the presented algorithms.