On the coverage effects in wireless sensor networks based prognostic and health management

International audienceIn this article, we used Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) techniques for monitoring an area under consideration, in order to diagnose its state. What differentiates this type of network from the traditional computer ones is that it is composed by a large number of sensor nodes having very limited and almost nonrenewable energy. Thus, maintain the quality of service (QoS) of a wireless sensor network for a long period is very important in order to ensure accurate data. Then, the area diagnosing (diagnosing the state of the area) will be more accurate. One of the most important indexes of the QoS in WSN is its coverage which is usually interpreted as how well the network can observe a given area. Many studies have been conducted to study the problem of detecting and eliminating redundant sensors in order to improve energy efficiency, while preserving the network’s coverage. However, in this article, we discuss the coverage problem in wireless sensor networks and its relation with prognostic and health management. The aim of this article is to study the impact of coverage issues in wireless sensor network on these processes. We emphasized several issues and studied various parameters related to the coverage problem that have a very important impact on the network, and therefore on data diagnostics over time: like the scheduling mechanisms, density, deployment of sensors, energy consumption. To reach this goal, evaluating both prognostic and health management with the coverage issues in WSN, we have used four diagnostic algorithms