Decentralized control of mobile sensor networks for asymptotically optimal self-deployment in blanket coverage

This paper addresses an area coverage problem by deploying a network of autonomous mobile sensors. The region to be covered is a bounded and connected two-dimensional region. A decentralized control law is proposed for driving them into a sensor lattice that provides a complete coverage of the region. In particular, this sensor lattice is in the so-called triangular lattice pattern and this coverage pattern is optimal in terms of minimum number of sensors required for the complete coverage of the region. The algorithm is developed based on some simple consensus algorithms. To illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, a numerical simulation has been implemented.