Abstract: Network coverage and node power consumption are two main performance indicators in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Although many of the existing coverage methods have improved the two indicators, most of them have only improved for one performance, and the merits of another performance have not been discussed in detail. For this insufficient, an improved algorithm based on VFA is proposed. The WSN is divided into unit grids. The nodes select the grid forces and other forces adaptively. Under the combined forces, the nodes are re-deployed and the dynamic coverage of WSN is further optimized, so that the WSN achieves a better coverage state. By modifying the force threshold, the energy consumption of the dynamic nodes is as small as possible. The simulation results show that the algorithm can not only achieve large network coverage and less node power consumption, but also has the advantages of fast convergence speed and low computational complexity.

Key words: wireless sensor network, virtual force, binary sensing model, network cover