How to cover and maintain connectivity in wireless sensor network using less number of sensors?
Hi Harizan,
Firstly, you can use the wireless module with higher output power to enhance the communication distance between the network nodes, and then decrease the node number. Secondly, you can use directional antenna with higher gain to enhance the communication distance, and certainly the node number will be lessen. thirdly, you can use some coding method or MIMO technology to improve the SNR of the received signal, and then enhance the communication distance. You can also use signal receivers with higher sensitivity or lower noise to increase the communication distance.
Good luck!
Depending on the technology that you use, you can:
1) adjust the output power of each single sensor module in order to cover a wider area (pay attention to the location of each sensor, because an higher output power generally results in an higher interference level). This is an option that generally you can apply indipendently from the particular technology that you are using;
2) if you have the possibility, you can use external antenna modules instead of the embedded antenna, because of the higher coverage area. This option depends on the particular board that you are using for your application (i.e., if it supports external antennas);
3) given a fixed number of sensors, you can arrange your network topology in a multhop fashion. Imaging that your network has a tree structure, each leaf of the tree is connected to a single parent node, and not to the network coordinator (also this option depends on the technology that you are using, i.e. IEEE 802.15.4 radio modules allow this option, while Bluetooth does not support multihopping).
In addition to the above comments , the number of sensors covering specific area , the density of the sensors may be limited by the demand of the sensing function itself where the sensed physical quantity changes in a distance less than the available wireless link distance. That is the minimum distance between adjacent sensors may be dictated by the variation of the sensed parameter.
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