Node Relocation Techniques for Wireless Sensor Networks: A Short Survey

Sensor nodes in a sensor network often operate in harsh and challenging environments and this leads to frequent failure of sensor nodes. Failure of sensor nodes leads to partitioning in the network connectivity. For significant effectiveness of applications of sensor networks, the inter-sensor connectivity among sensors is vital. Some sensors are also involved in sustaining the flow of information from the sensor to unapproachable end users. The network can be split up into multiple incoherent blocks and cease working due to physical damage or onboard energy depletion. To deal with such scenarios, a plethora of node repositioning techniques are proposed in the literature. In this article, the recent and up to date mode of research on dynamic sensor repositioning in WSN is discussed. This article classifies sensor repositioning methods into on-demand and post-deployment repositioning based on whether the optimization is accomplished at deployment time or while the network is functioning.