A Coverage Optimization Approach for Wireless Sensor Networks Using Swarm Intelligence Optimization

WSN coverage optimization faces two key challenges: firstly, traditional algorithms are prone to getting stuck in local optima, leading to 'coverage holes' in node deployment; Secondly, in dynamic scenarios (such as imbalanced energy consumption of nodes), the convergence speed of the algorithm is slow, making it difficult to maintain high coverage in real time. This study focuses on the coverage optimization problem of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and proposes improvements to the Flamingo Search Optimization Algorithm (FSA). Specifically, the algorithm is enhanced by integrating the elite opposition-based learning strategy and the stagewise step-size control strategy, which significantly improves its overall performance. Additionally, the introduction of a cosine variation factor combined with the stagewise step-size control strategy enables the algorithm to effectively break free from local optima constraints in the later stages of iteration. The improved Flamingo Algorithm is applied to optimize the deployment strategy of sensing nodes, thereby enhancing the coverage rate of the sensor network. First, an appropriate number of sensing nodes is selected according to the target area, and the population is initialized using a chaotic sequence. Subsequently, the improved Flamingo Algorithm is adopted to optimize and solve the coverage model, with the coverage rate as the fitness function and the coordinates of all randomly distributed sensing nodes as the initial foraging positions. Next, a search for candidate foraging sources is performed to obtain the coordinates of sensing nodes with higher fitness; the coordinate components of these candidate foraging sources are further optimized through chaos theory to derive the foraging source with the highest fitness. Finally, the coordinates of the optimal foraging source are output, which correspond to the coordinate values of all sensing nodes in the target area. Experimental results show that after 100 and 200 iterations, the coverage rate of the improved Flamingo Search Optimization Algorithm is 7.48% and 5.68% higher than that of the original FSA, respectively. Furthermore, the findings indicate that, by properly configuring the Flamingo population size and the number of iterations, the improved algorithm achieves a higher coverage rate compared to other benchmark algorithms.