Sacrificing a little coverage can substantially increase network lifetime

We present a simple, local protocol, pCover, which provides partial (but high) coverage in sensor networks. Through pCover, we demonstrate that it is feasible to maintain a high coverage (∼90%) while significantly increasing coverage duration when compared with protocols that provide full coverage. In particular, we show that we are able to maintain 94% coverage for a duration that is 2.3–7 times the duration for which existing protocols maintain full coverage. Through simulations, we show that our protocol provides load balancing, i.e., the desired level of coverage is maintained (almost) until the point where all sensors deplete their batteries. We also show that pCover handles failure of sensors, different coverage areas, different node densities, and different topologies, and can be used for dynamically changing the level of coverage.