A FAST FAULT TOLERANT PARTITIONING ALGORITHM FOR WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

Sundarapandian et al. (Eds) : ACITY, AIAA, CNSA, DPPR, NeCoM, WeST, DMS, P2PTM, VLSI - 2013
pp. 227–237, 2013. © CS & IT-CSCP 2013 DOI : 10.5121/csit.2013.3424
A FAST FAULT TOLERANT PARTITIONING
ALGORITHM FOR WIRELESS SENSOR
NETWORKS
Dibakar Saha1
and Nabanita Das2
Advanced Computing and Microelectronics Unit,
Indian Statistical Institute Kolkata, India
1
dibakar.saha10@gmail.com, 2
ndas@isical.ac.in
ABSTRACT
In this paper, given a random uniform distribution of sensor nodes on a 2-D plane, a fast self-
organized distributed algorithm is proposed to find the maximum number of partitions of the
nodes such that each partition is connected and covers the area to be monitored. Each
connected partition remains active in a round robin fashion to cover the query region
individually. In case of a node failure the proposed distributed fault recovery algorithm
reconstructs the affected partition locally utilizing the available free nodes. Simulation studies
show significant improvement in performance compared to the earlier works in terms of
computation time, the topology of each partition, message overhead and network lifetime.
KEYWORDS
Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), Self Organization, Coverage, Partition, Network Lifetime,
Fault Resilience
1. INTRODUCTION
In a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), a large number of sensor nodes are randomly deployed to
monitor a large geographical area. Each sensor node is integrated with processing elements,
memory, battery power and wireless communication capabilities. Once deployed, they are, in
general left unattended. Due to power drainage, hardware degradation, environmental hazards etc.
sensor nodes may fail. To combat frequent failures of non-repairable nodes, the networks are
generally over-deployed. For better utilization of the over-deployed nodes to save energy and to
extend the lifetime of the network, this paper addresses the problem of finding the maximum
number of partitions of the sensor nodes such that each partition is connected and covers the
whole query region. Instead of keeping all the sensor nodes active always, these partitions will
remain active one after another in a round robin fashion. Therefore, if there exists K such
partitions, the network lifetime can be enhanced by at most K times. Here, given a random
uniform distribution of sensor nodes over a 2-D plane, a fast distributed algorithm is developed
for finding the maximum number of partitions of connected nodes such that each partition ensures
coverage. In case of node failures, a distributed algorithm is developed for fault recovery that
rearranges the affected partition locally to tolerate single node faults within a partition.
Simulation studies show that compared to the earlier techniques, the proposed algorithm is faster
and results better partition topology with reduced diameter and requires less message overhead.
Also, in case of unpredictable node faults the neighboring nodes in the same partition execute the

228 Computer Science & Information Technology (CS & IT)
localized fault recovery algorithm that rearranges the partition locally to make the system fault
resilient. Simulation results show that it extends the network lifetime significantly.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents a brief outline of related works.
Section 3 describes the proposed model. Section 4 presents the proposed algorithms. Simulation
results are included in Section 5 and Section 6 concludes the paper.
2. RELATED WORKS
Extensive research results have been reported so far addressing the problems of sensing coverage
and network connectivity in wireless sensor networks. In many works, the authors considered
only the coverage issue in wireless sensor networks [1]–[6]. But unless the coverage and
connectedness problems are considered jointly, the data sensed by the nodes covering the region
cannot be gathered at the sink node in multi-hop WSN’s. The problem of finding a connected set
cover of minimum size is itself an NP-hard problem [7]. Authors of [7], [8] focused on both
connectivity and coverage problems with the objective of finding a single connected set cover
only. But finding just a single connected cover keeps a large number of sensors unutilized. Some
of the papers considered the fault tolerant connected set cover problem. An approximation
algorithm is proposed in [9] for fault tolerant connected set cover problem. In [10], a coverage
optimization algorithm based on particle swarm optimization technique is developed. In [11]–
[14], authors proposed several dynamic localized algorithms to achieve the coverage and
connectivity. But dynamic algorithms, in general, require substantial message overhead to collect
recent neighborhood information at regular intervals. Hence, the authors in [15], propose a
localized algorithm for finding maximum number of connected set covers that is to be computed
just once during network initialization only.
In some papers [12], [14], [15], it has been assumed that the query area is a dense grid [16], [17]
composed of unit cells. The knowledge of exact location of each node is needed here. A sensor
node computes the covered area by counting the cells covered by each neighbor that makes the
procedure computation intensive. To avoid this, in [18] the DCSP algorithm is proposed where
authors assume that the monitoring area is divided into a limited number of square blocks such
that a sensor node within a block completely covers it irrespective of its position within the block.
Therefore, the coverage problem can be solved easily with much less computation. However, the
proposed distributed algorithm was a slow one requiring p rounds to achieve a partition with p
nodes. Also, the fault model considered the faults due to energy exhaustion only where a node
can predict its failure and can inform its neighbors in advance. In this paper, a faster distributed
algorithm requiring less message overhead is proposed that is executed during network
initialization only. It attempts to create maximum number of connected partitions of sensor nodes
with reduced diameter such that each partition covers the area under investigation and being
active in round robin fashion it enhances the network lifetime manifold. The reduced diameter of
the partition keeps the communication latency low. Moreover, a distributed fault recovery
algorithm is developed for a stronger fault model that in presence of any unpredictable node
faults, can rearrange the affected partition locally, so that it remains operational. Simulation
studies show that this fault recovery scheme enhances the network lifetime by more than 50%.
3. PROPOSED MODEL AND PROBLEM FORMULATION
Let n homogeneous sensor nodes be deployed over a 2-D region P each with sensing range S and
transmission range T. It is assumed that P is divided into a finite number of square blocks [18].
Each side of the block is R/√2 as shown in Figure1, where R=min(S, T). Therefore, it is evident
that each sensor node within a block B completely covers B and all nodes within the same block
are always connected to each other.

Computer Science & Information Technology (CS & IT) 229
Hence, activating just a single sensor node from each block is sufficient to cover the region P. But
it is not guaranteed that any such set is connected.
As for example, Figure 2 shows a partition where the selected nodes (shown by solid circles) are
connected but a block B is left uncovered. Whereas, Figure 3 shows a partition where all blocks
are covered but the selected nodes are not connected, and finally, Figure 4 shows the desired
topology where the partition covers all blocks as well as it is connected. Assuming this grid
structure of the query region P , this paper addresses the connected set cover partitioning problem
introduced in [15]. For completeness, the problem is defined below.
Definition 1. Consider a sensor network consisting of a set S of n sensors and a query region P .
A set of sensors N⊆ S is said to be a connected K-cover for P if, each point p ∈ P is covered by at
least K sensors from N and the communication graph induced by N is connected.
a) Connected Set Cover Problem: Given n sensor nodes distributed over a query region,
the Connected Set Cover Problem is to find a connected 1-cover of minimum size. This problem is
known to be an NP-hard problem [7].
b) Connected Set Cover Partitioning Problem: The Connected Set Cover Partitioning
Problem is to partition the sensors into connected 1-covers such that the number of covers is
maximized [15].
Figure 1. Region P divided into a
square blocks with diagonal R
Figure 2. A Connected partition of nodes
Figure 4. A partition with coverage
and connectivity
Figure 3. A partition that covers P but is
disconnected

It is evident that the problem (b) is at least as hard as problem (a). The following section
describes the algorithms developed for solving the Connected Set Cover Partitioning Problem.
4. ALGORITHM FOR CONNECTED SET COVER PARTITIONING
In pervasive computing environments, it is evident that in most of the cases the system captures
data in distributed nodes communicating through poorly connected network. Since, in WSN large
number of sensor nodes is deployed over a geographical area, to collect information of the whole
network at a central node is not feasible. Instead, it is better to compute in a distributed fashion
based on the local neighborhood information using less communication. Hence the focus of our
work is on distributed computation of the connected partitions. In this section, a distributed
algorithm is developed to find the maximum number of connected-1 covers of a WSN. Also, in
case of node fault, a distributed algorithm is presented to rearrange the affected partition locally
to make the system fault resilient.
4.1. Distributed Algorithm for Partitioning
It is assumed that a set of n sensor nodes S={s1, s2, s3, ......, sn} is deployed on a 2-D plane P
divided into say, m square blocks P= { p1, p2, p3,...., pm}, each with side R/√ 2 where R= min(S,T),
as has been described in Section 3. Each block has unique id. Each sensor node knows its location
in terms of its block within which it is located. After deployment, by the neighborhood discovery
phase, each node knows its neighbor-id's, their degrees and block-id's respectively.
To generate the partitions the following types of messages are exchanged among nodes.
• Selectlist (Ci, i, {j}) : This message is sent by a node- i that selects a list of neighbors {j}
for inclusion in its partition Ci.
• Selected (Ci, {j}) : This message is initiated by the leader node li of Ci and is sent to nodes
{j} for inclusion in its partition.
• Confirm (Ci, j) : A node ∈ {j} sends this message to the leader after joining its partition
Ci.
• Include (Ci, j) : The leader broadcasts this message within Ci to include node j∈ Ci.
Depending on the node density, a probability value 0 < lprob < 1 is determined to select p number
of leader nodes randomly. Each node i in S generates a random number r to check if r ≤ lprob, the
leader probability. If yes, it becomes a leader node and sets its parent as null. Say, p leader nodes
emerge and L ={ l1, l2, l3, ... , lp}. Next each leader node li ∈ L initiates the creation of one partition
Ci concurrently to generate a disjoint connected 1-cover.
(a) In Round 1 (b) In Round 2

(c) In Round 3
(d) In Round 4 (e) In Round 5 (f) In Round 6
Figure 5. steps for constructing connected 1-cover in successive rounds
In round 1, each leader li in L initiates a partition Ci={li}. In each round, each node i ∈ Ci prepares
'Selectlist' consisting of neighbors of itself and its children in Ci, each one from an uncovered
block with minimum degree D. If it finds none, it includes a neighbor from any block with
maximum degree D. In case, a node gets more than one node from the same block, it selects the
neighbor with minimum D. Node i sends a 'Selectlist' message to its parent in Ci if it is a leaf
node in Ci. Else, after receiving the 'Selectlist' messages from all its children in Ci, node j ∈ Ci
sends the 'Selectlist' message to its parent node if it is not a leader node.
The leader node finally selects the nodes to be included and sends the ’Selected’ message to them.
If a node receives ’Selected’ messages from more than one nodes, it selects the parent with

minimum degree D and confirms the request by sending a ’Confirm’ message to the
corresponding leader. The leader includes the node in Ci and broadcasts the ’Include’ message to
all nodes in Ci. On receiving an ’Include(Ci, j)’ message, all nodes k ∈ Ci include node-j in its
partition and make necessary updates. In each round, this procedure is repeated until either all
blocks are covered by a partition Ci, or no neighbors are left for inclusion.
The formal description of the algorithm is given below.
Algorithm 1: Distributed algorithm for connected set cover partitioning
Input: 1-hop neighbor list of each node NL(i) with degree D, Block-Id, Block status, Status,
Leader Probability : lprob
Output: Partition Ci from leader li
for each node-i do
if node-i is a leader then Ci ← {i}; parent = ∅; status = 1;
end
if Status = 1 and not all blocks covered then
prepare ’Selectlist’ with neighbors from uncovered blocks with minimum D or
neighbor from covered block with maximum D;
if received ’Selectlist’ messages from all children ∈Ci and Parent ≠ ∅ then
prepare ’Selectlist’ to cover maximum number of uncovered blocks with
neighbors having minimum D;
Send ’Selectlist’ to the parent node;
else
if 'Selectlist' =∅ then
Broadcast success=0 and terminate;
else
Send ’Selected’ message to the nodes in ’Selectlist’ ;
end
end
end
if Status = 0 receives ’Selected’ message then
Select that partition where the sender have minimum D and send ’Confirm’
message to leader;
Update NL(i), Block status, Status and include in Ci;
end
if leader node and receives ’Confirm’ message then
Broadcast ’Include’ message to all nodes in Ci and update NL(i) , Block status,
Status;
if all blocks are covered then
Broadcast success=1 and terminate;
end
else
if status=1 and receives ’include’ message then
update NL(i);
end
end
end
Correctness Proof: From the algorithm, it is clear that in each round of the procedure, the nodes
already existing in a partition include several neighbors in it. As the partition starts with a single
leader node, it always remains connected including new neighbors of the nodes covering
additional blocks. The process terminates when at least one node from each block has been
included i.e. a successful partition always satisfy the condition of connectedness and coverage. In
case of a failure, the nodes in the incomplete partition declare them as free nodes, and take part in
other partitions or remain as stand by nodes to facilitate the fault recovery phase.

Example 1. In Figure 5, it is shown that in round 1, the leader node (red) selects the neighbors
(the green ones) from uncovered blocks. In the next round, all black nodes are selected by the red
and green nodes. This procedure is repeated to include brown and blue nodes until all blocks are
covered. In the last round, all purple nodes are selected and the process is terminated as no
uncovered block exists.
4.2. Distributed Fault Recovery Algorithm
As it has been mentioned in Section 1, once deployed the sensor nodes may fail due to low
energy, hardware degradation, inaccurate readings, environmental changes etc. This paper
focuses on the fault recovery problem in case of a single unpredictable node fault within a
partition. It is assumed that when an active node f of a partition Ci fails abruptly, its parent (if
exists) and the children (if exists) in Ci can detect it.
A fast fault recovery algorithm by which all children and the parent of the faulty node in the
partition after detecting the fault rearrange the partition quickly to make the partition connected
with full coverage. In case, the faulty node is the leader node, its children with the minimum
node-id becomes the new leader otherwise the parent node becomes the leader and the fault
recovery procedure is initiated by the new leader.
The formal description of the algorithm is given below.
Algorithm 2: Distributed fault recovery algorithm
Input: faulty node-id : f, partition: Ci, parent & children of f: Si
Output: Recovered partition Ci
If f is a leader node then leadertemp ← Minimum ID child of f, otherwise
leadertemp ← parent of f;
Make a block list BS[ ] covered by (f U Si) leadertemp with status ← 0 ;
include leadertemp in temp[ ];
end
for each node-i in temp[ ] do
find neighbors in Si or from uncovered block. If none, select the free neighbor
with maximum D; Include neighbors in ’Selectlist’, ;
if node-i not leadertemp then
Send ’Selectlist’ message to leadertemp;
else
if leadertemp receives ’Selectelist’ message from all nodes-j in temp[ ]
then
Include nodes in temp[ ]; Update BS[ ];
if BS[ ] == ∅ then
Send ’FaultRecovered’ message with temp[ ] to ∀j ∈ Ci
and
terminate;
if ’Selectlist’ = ∅ for ∀j ∈ temp[ ] then
Broadcast ’RecoveryFailed’ and terminate;
else
send temp[ ] and BS[ ] to all nodes in temp[ ];
end
end
end
end
Correctness Proof: In the fault recovery algorithm, in case a node i ∈ Ci fails, a unique leader
node leadertemp ∈ Ci is selected from the parent or children of i. leadertemp marks the set of blocks

of the remaining children of i as uncovered. Then it initiates the fault recovery procedure, in the
same fashion as it has been done in algorithm 1, only with the difference that here the children of
the faulty node in the uncovered blocks are preferred than other nodes to be included in Ci. It
guarantees that when the procedure is successful, the repaired partition is again connected and
covers the whole region.
(a) Fault Detection (b) Disjoint Sub Partition (c) Fault Recovery
Figure 6. Fault Detection and Recovery
Example 2. In Figure 6, say, the red node is faulty. It will be detected by all its children and
parent (colored by green). The partition is broken into three disjoint components as shown in
Figure 6(b). The leader node selects its neighbor the blue node from the faulty node’s block for
maintaining the coverage and it is also connected to at least one node from the disjoint
components. Therefore, the connectivity is preserved. Now the new partition including the blue
node, is ready for monitoring the area.
5. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
For simulation studies, we have used network simulator NS 2.34 to evaluate the performance of
our proposed algorithm. We have compared our results with [18] that show significant
improvement on the number of rounds for generating the partitions, the network diameter and the
number of transmitted messages per node during the procedure. The sensor nodes are deployed
over a grid P which is divided into a number of blocks (2 × 2), ( 3 × 3) to ( 7 × 7) respectively.
Figure 7 shows the variation of the average number of rounds to complete partitioning with the
grid size. Obviously, the number of rounds increases with the number of blocks. However,
compared to the DCSP algorithm proposed in [18], the present method completes in significantly
less number of rounds. Therefore, during initialization, the proposed method will converge faster
to achieve the connected covers of the nodes.

In figure 8, it is shown that the proposed algorithm results significant improvement in terms of
the average network diameter of the generated partition over the DCSP algorithm [18]. In a
network with large diameter, the number of steps to route a message from a source node to a
destination node will require more delay and more massage exchanges between intermediate
nodes. Therefore, the low diameter network topologies are highly preferred for a partition that can
aggregate the data using less number of hops, i.e., with less delay and less number of broadcasts.
Figure 9 shows the significant improvement in average number of transmitted messages per node
in computing the connected set covers. Since the procedure terminates faster using fewer rounds
of computation, the total number of messages exchanged per node is also less here. Therefore the
proposed technique is better in terms of energy efficiency also.
Finally, Figure 10 shows how the fault recovery algorithm enhances the network lifetime in
presence of faults. In the simulation, only node faults due to energy exhaustion has been taken
into account. Simulation results show almost 50% enhancements in network lifetime.
Figure 8. Comparison of diameter between
DCSP and the proposed algorithm
Figure 7. Comparison of average number of rounds
for partitioning between DCSP and the proposed
algorithm
Figure. 9. DCSP vs. Proposed algorithm in
terms of average number of transmitted
messages
Figure. 10. Extension of network lifetime using
fault recovery technique

6. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we have focused on the connected set cover partitioning problem in Wireless Sensor
Networks. A self-organized fast distributed algorithm is proposed for finding maximum number
of connected partitions to cover the region. Also, distributed fault recovery technique is
developed to rearrange connected set covers in presence of unpredictable node faults to satisfy
both connectivity and coverage criteria. Reduction in network diameter of the partition and
significant improvements in terms of computation rounds and message overhead are also
achieved by the proposed method. In summary, the proposed connected set cover partitioning
technique along with the localized fault recovery scheme opens up new avenues for setting up
self organized wireless sensor networks with enhanced lifetime.
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Authors
Dr. Nabanita Das is a Professor in the Advanced Computing and Microelectronics
Unit of Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India, since 1996. Her area of interest
includes Mobile Ad Hoc Networking, Pervasive Computing, Parallel and
Distributed Computing and Multi-Core Computing. Dr. Das acted as the co-Editor
of ‘Distributed Computing- IWDC 2004’ LNCS, Springer, Guest Editor of special
issue on 'Resource Management in Mobile Communication Networks' of
'Microprocessors and Microsystems', 2004, Elsevier, Editor of 'Recent Trends in
High Performance Computing', Proc. of International Workshop on High
Performance Computing', 1998 – 99. She serves as the reviewer of many
International Journals like IEEE Transactions on Computers, IEEE Transactions
on Vehicular Technology, IEEE Transactions on Systems Man and Cybernetics,
Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing etc. She is a senior member of
IEEE. She served as the Chair of Women in Engineering (WIE) affinity group of
IEEE Calcutta section during 2009-2011.
Dibakar Saha, received Master of Computer Applications (MCA) degree from
University of North Bengal, West Bengal, in 2010. Since 2010 he has been a
project researcher at Advanced Computing and Microelectronics unit, Indian
Statistical Institute, Kolkata. His research interests include parallel processing and
Distributed Computing.

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