Enhanced Particle Swarm Optimization for Effective Relay Nodes Deployment in Wireless Sensor Networks

One of the critical design problems in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is the Relay Node Placement (RNP) problem. Inefficient deployment of RNs would have adverse effects on the overall performance and energy efficiency of WSNs. The RNP problem is a typical example of an NP-hard optimization problem which can be addressed using metaheuristics with multi-objective formulation. In this paper, we aimed to provide an efficient optimization approach considering the unconstrained deployment of energy-harvesting RNs into a pre-established stationary WSN. The optimization was carried out for three different objectives: energy consumption, network coverage, and deployment cost. This was approached using a novel optimization approach based on the integration of the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm and a greedy technique. In the optimization process, the greedy algorithm is an essential component to provide effective guidance during PSO convergence. It supports the PSO algorithm with the required information to efficiently alleviate the complexity of the PSO search space and locate RNs in the spots of critical significance. The evaluation of the proposed greedy-based PSO algorithm was carried out with different WSN scenarios of varying complexity levels. A comparison was established with two PSO variants: the classical PSO and a PSO hybridized with the pattern search optimizer. The experimental results demonstrated the significance of the greedy algorithm in enhancing the optimization process for all the considered PSO variants. The results also showed how the solution quality and time efficiency were considerably improved by the proposed optimization approach. Such improvements were achieved using a simple integration technique without adding to the complexity of the system and introducing additional optimization stages. This was more evident in the RNP scenarios of considerably large search spaces, even with highly complex and challenging setups.