Sensor Network with Multiple Mobile Access Points

We consider sensor networks with mobile access points where data at sensor nodes are collected by multiple mobile access points. Using throughput and energy efficiency as performance measures, we address the optimal coverage areas of and the cooperation among the mobile access points. We show that when the mobile access points do not cooperate in demodulation, disjoint coverage areas are optimal for throughput while completely overlapped coverage areas are optimal for energy efficiency. When the mobile access points decode their received packets jointly, the optimal configuration appears to have a phase transition. Specifically, in order to maximize throughput, the coverage areas of the mobile access points should be completely overlapped when SNR is smaller than a threshold and disjoint otherwise. Length: Regular Paper.