Unified Coordination-Communication Strategy to Swarm Controlled Mobile Wireless Sensor Network

Protocols of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) commonly look to implement the best route for packages almost randomly generated until they arrive at the sink node. In mobile WSNs the sensor nodes are able to move and the routing task is more complex. One way to implement mobile WSNs is using small mobile robots to carry the sensing elements by the sensing area. If the algorithm that controls the movement of the robots is based on a swarm approach, it consists of a swarm of robots. In a typical swarm of robots only the communication between the robots is implemented to ensure the swarm behavior but it is not enough to make the swarm act as a WSN. This paper describes a unified coordination-communication strategy to control the swarm of robots so that it can act as a WSN. In addition, the communication strategy accomplishes the task of routing packages from the generating node until they reach the sink node reducing unnecessary retransmissions. The simulations performed describe the successful use of the hybrid algorithm in searching and surveillance applications.