Abstract: To optimize the coverage problem of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) Heterogeneous nodes with obstacles in the monitoring area, based on the flower pollination algorithm (FPA), an improved flower pollination algorithm (IFPA) is proposed. IFPA is used to improve the shortcomings of the original algorithm with slow convergence speed and low precision. The nonlinear convergence factor is designed to constrain the original scaling factor, the Tent mapping is used to maintain the diversity of the population in the late iteration, and the greedy crossover strategy is used to assist the poor individuals to search with better individuals. The experiment of the benchmark function proves that the IFPA has a better convergence performance than other comparison algorithms, and the simulation experiments of WSN deployment show that IFPA can obtain a higher coverage rate and save network deployment cost.

Key words: wireless sensor network, coverage optimization, heterogeneous node, obstacle, improved flower pollination algorithm