Approximation Algorithms for the Connected Sensor Cover Problem

Abstract: We study the minimum connected sensor cover problem (MIN-CSC) and the budgeted connected sensor cover (Budgeted-CSC) problem, both motivated by important applications (e.g., reduce the communication cost among sensors) in wireless sensor networks. In both problems, we are given a set of sensors and a set of target points in the Euclidean plane. In MIN-CSC, our goal is to find a set of sensors of minimum cardinality, such that all target points are covered, and all sensors can communicate with each other (i.e., the communication graph is connected). We obtain a constant factor approximation algorithm, assuming that the ratio between the sensor radius and communication radius is bounded. In Budgeted-CSC problem, our goal is to choose a set of $B$ sensors, such that the number of targets covered by the chosen sensors is maximized and the communication graph is connected. We also obtain a constant approximation under the same assumption.