Effect of Utility Function on Lifetime of Directional Sensor Networks

Prolonging lifetime of directional sensor networks is one of the hot topics these days because of vast application of these kinds of sensors. Since, the depletion of energy from one sensor indicates a lack of information being communicated from one part of the network. Hence, managing energy consumption of each sensor becomes critical. In this paper one approach for improving sensor network lifetime based upon appropriate utility function is investigated. It is presumed that in order to extend sensor lifetime, each target requires different quality of coverage. In the first part of the paper, utility function is introduced and formulated. Then, categorizing algorithm is elucidated and the optimum candidate for utility function is presented. Lastly, simulation results show the effect of utility function on network lifetime. It is shown that by changing utility function we could obtain different network lifetime. Ultimately, using optimum utility function is a method for increasing network lifetime.