Improved coverage in WSNs by exploiting spatial correlation: the two sensor case

One of the main applications of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is area monitoring. In such problems, it is desirable to maximize the area coverage. The main objective of this work is to investigate collaborative detection schemes at the local sensor level for increasing the area coverage of each sensor and thus increasing the coverage of the entire network. In this article, we focus on pairs of nodes that are closely spaced and can exchange information to decide their collective alarm status in a decentralized manner. By exploiting their spatial correlation, we show that the pair can achieve a larger area coverage than the two individual sensors acting alone. Moreover, we analyze the performance of different collaborative detection schemes for a pair of sensor nodes and show that the area coverage achieved by each scheme depends on the distance between the two sensors.