A Genetic Simulated Annealing Hybrid Algorithm for

Relay Nodes Deployment Optimization in Industrial

Wireless Sensor Networks
Peng Sun, Jianshe Ma*, Kai Ni
Division of Advanced Manufacturing, Graduate School at Shenzhen
Tsinghua University
Shenzhen, China
sp09@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn, ma.jianshe@sz.tsinghua.edu.cn, ni.kai@sz.tsinghua.edu.cn


AbstractWith the development of wireless sensor networks,
low-cost and high-reliability industrial wireless sensor networks
become feasible. The industrial wireless sensor networks should
be designed to resist the failure of some nodes in harsh environ-
ments. In order to minimize the installation cost of relay nodes
for fault tolerant hierarchical networks planning, we proposed a
genetic simulated annealing hybrid algorithm. The algorithm
determines the number of relay nodes, along with their locations,
so that each sensor node can be covered by at least two relay
nodes, and the network of relay nodes is 2-connected. The result
produced by the presented algorithm within limited number of
iterations is reasonable and the algorithm leads to improvements
compared with genetic algorithm and integer linear program
(ILP).
Keywords-wireless sensor networks, industrial wireless sensor
networks, fault tolerant relay nodes deployment, genetic algorithm,
simulated annealing algorithm
I. INTRODUCTION
With the recent developments and advances in wireless
sensor networks (WSNs)the realization of cost effective in-
dustrial wireless sensor networks have become feasible and
promising [1-2]. Compared with the traditional expensive
wired industrial monitoring systems, industrial wireless sensor
networks (IWSNs) have several advantages, such as low instal-
lation cost, flexibility [1-3], etc. However, some problems
hinder their usage in practical automation scenarios. One of the
basic issues is the problem of network deployment. An algo-
rithm of deploying a network to assist the network installer
prior to the placement is desirable.
IWSNs consist of sensor nodes (SNs), relay nodes (RNs)
and base stations (BSs). In this paper, we consider hierarchical,
two-tiered network architecture [4-5]. SNs are installed on the
manufacturing equipment to monitor physical conditions criti-
cal to their health, such as vibration, temperature, pressure, etc.
They are in the lower tier and transmit their data directly to
their corresponding cluster heads. RNs in the upper tier are
defined as cluster heads. Each RN aggregates data from the
SNs and RNs within the corresponding cluster and forwards
the collected data to the BSs. RNs can communicate with BSs
via wireless single-hop or multi-hop paths. The data gathered
will be diagnosed and any potential problems will be indicated
to the plant personnel. This makes the equipment to be repaired
or replaced before it fails entirely.
IWSNs have some special network characters different
from norm WSNs due to the specific application requirements
for industrial applications:
(1) IWSNs are usually installed in predefined geographi-
cal area to provide service. SNs are distributed in the region
and their positions are fixed and predetermined. Additionally,
RNs cannot be deployed anywhere because there may be some
forbidden regions where RNs cannot be placed in practice;
(2) In the harsh environment, IWSNs take practicality,
high reliability, and real-time as the goal, while they have little
demands for energy consumption and balance of RNs.
In a single connected network, the deployment of RNs
merely ensures the connectivity of the network. However, in
this case, the failure of even a single RN in the harsh industrial
plant results in losing functionality. The failure not only pre-
vents the data gathering in its respective cluster, but also dis-
connects the data forwarding towards the BS used by other
RNs. Therefore, the redundancy of network is introduced
which is resistant to failure in order to ensure the survivability
in harsh industrial environment.
In this paper, we explore the problem of the optimal RNs
deployment with an objective of minimizing the network cost
subject to the following coverage, connectivity and survivabili-
ty requirements:
(1) Each SN can be covered by at least two RNs;
(2) The network topology of RNs is 2-connected.
This problem is defined as the 2-connected double-cover
problem (2CDCP).
II. REVIEW
In recent times, the two-tiered RNs placement problem has
been addressed in number of literature. Authors in [6-9] have
proposed strategies for the fault-tolerant RNs placement. How-
ever, all of these works do not concern the constraint of posi-
tions for RNs to be placed.
978-1-4577-1779-6/12/$26.00 2012 IEEE
Some researchers have studied the RNs deployment prob-
lem considering the forbidden regions. For example, the au-
thors in literatures [10-12] have studied this problem based on
restricting the RNs on the candidate locations outside of the
forbidden regions instead of everywhere. The authors in [10]
have presented an optimal placement formulation of Integer
Linear Programming (ILP), which minimizes the number of
RNs. Also, authors in [11] have proposed Mixed ILP (MILP)
models to select the number and positions of mesh routers and
access points from the candidate locations. However, it is un-
protected against the failure of a single link. The authors in
[12] have proposed a decomposition method to optimize the
ILP with respect to RNs deployment problem.
In this paper, we consider a fault tolerant hierarchical
IWSNs and present a genetic simulated annealing hybrid algo-
rithm (GASA) to optimize the RNs deployment combining the
advantages of both genetic algorithm (GA) and simulated an-
nealing algorithm (SA) in solving optimization problems. The
algorithm is based on the discretized region. The RNs deploy-
ment problem is modeled as a graph drawing problem and the
graph is evolved toward good graph by using GASA.
III. MODEL
For our model, the network is supposed to be deployed in a
squared are A. The area is partitioned by grid cells, and the grid
points are candidate locations for RNs. The unit disk model for
the radio propagation is selected. In what follows, we use
R
l
and
S
l to denote the transmission communication ranges of
RNs and SNs respectively. We assume
R
l and
S
l subject to the
constraint:
S R
l l . A SN is covered by a RN only if the SN
and RN are within the Euclidean distance of
S
l . Given the set
of SNs,
{ }
1 2
, , ,
S
N
S s s s = ,
( )
, ,
i i
i s s S
s x y l = . Given the set of
candidate sites for RNs,
{ }
1 2
, , , =
Z
N
Z z z z ,
( )
, ,
i i
i z z R
z x y l = .
Given the set of RNs,
{ }
1 2
, , ,
R
N
R r r r = and
R Z ,
( )
, ,
i i
i r r R
r x y l = . Given the set of the BSs,
{ }
1 2
, , ,
B
N
B b b b = ,
( )
, , =
i i
i b b R
b x y l . In this paper, only one
BS is deployed in a WSN, i.e. 1
B
N = .
The network composed of RNs and BS is represented by a
graph ( ) , G V E = , with V the set vertexes of B R and E
the valid communication link set. The edges E of graphs G
are related to the Euclidean distance of vertices. For example,
two nodes , v u G will be connected by an edge if their Eucli-
dean distance is less than the
R
l .In a network,
0
C denotes the
giant 2-connected component of graph G.
Transform the problem of 2CDCP into a combinatorial op-
timization problem. Place RNs at the sites of Z under the
2CDCP constraint so that the total cost is minimum, the fol-
lowing is the description of the problem:

1

1,
0,
Z
i
i
place RN at z
Y i N
otherwise
=

j k
,
1,
0
1 ,1
,
S j R k
s is covered by z
X j N k N
otherwise

1
Z
N
i
i
i
Minimi e c Y z
=

(1)
Subject to:

,
1
1 2 ,
R
N
j R k
k
X j j N
=

(2)

0
1
0
Z
N
i
i
Y C
=
=

(3)
Assume ,1
Z i
c N c i = , then the objective is transformed
into minimizing the number of RNs.
IV. OPTIMIZATION STRATEGY DESIGN
A. Overview of GASA
GA has global characteristics and unique advantages in
solving NP-hard problem [13-14]. However, the standard GA
has poor fine-tuning ability which resulting in falling into local
optimum and premature convergence easily [15-16].
SA is a random search algorithm of the simulation of the
physical annealing process and it has strong local search ability
[17-18]. But with SA to achieve excellent results is not effi-
cient [19].
GASA combines the advantages of GA and SA, and it is
very effective in solving large
scale combination optimization problems [20]. GA finds gen-
erally good global solutions, SA searches local optimization of
population generated by GA. At higher temperature, GASA
shows sudden jumps of strong probability; at low temperature,
it evolves to be chemotactic local search algorithm. The proce-
dure of GASA proposed is shown in Alg. 1.
Algorithm 1: Procedure of GASA
Step 1: Initialize population size( popSize ), crossover rate
(
c
P ), mutation rate (
m
P ), initial temperature(
0
T ), gra-
dient of cooling( ), count of iterations of Metropolis
algorithm in one temperature phase( L ), the maximum
iterations of temperature cooling ( K ), elite
count( eliteCount );
Step 2: 0 k ,
0
T T , generate the initial population
( ) 0 POP ;
Step 3: Calculate the fitness of ( ) 0 POP ;
Step 4: At the current temperature T , repeat Step 5 while the
number of iterations is less than L ;
Step 5: Apply selection first, then apply crossover and muta-
tion with probability
c
P and
m
P on ( ) POP k , calcu-
late the fitness
'
i
f of new candidate individuals, set
'
, k i i i
f f f = > ,if
,
0 <
k i
f , the accept the individual
as the new one; otherwise, accept it with probabili-
ty
( )
,
/
k i
exp f T ;
Step 6: T T , 1 k k + , if k K < , go to Step 4, otherwise
terminate and output the optimal solution.

B. Encoding
In the case of RNs placement problem, an individual con-
tains the information on the current location of RNs in the grid
area. The chromosome can be represented by
{ }
1 2
, , 1 , 1 , , 0
Z
Z N i
Y Y Y Y i N =

X . If the candidate
location i is selected to place RN, the corresponding
i
Y should
be set to 1 regardless of its current value.
C. Objective function
Set
( )
1
Z
N
i
i
f Y
=
=

X (4)
and (4) subject to (2)(3)
In order to use GASA of single objective, a penalty func-
tion is needed to transform the constrained optimization prob-
lem into an unconstrained optimization problem.
In this paper, we get the single objective function with a
penalty function as following:
( ) ( )
, 0
1 1 1
, 0 max 2
R S Z
N N N
j k i
j k i
M C F f X Y
= = =

= + +





X X (5)
M is the penalty function factor. This paper does not allow
the existence of solutions which does not meet the above-
mentioned constraint conditions. Therefore, M can be arbitra-
rily large integer.
D. Selection
In this paper, selection procedure adopts the roulette wheel
approach which is one of the fitness-proportional selections.
The elitist way was combined with this approach in order to
preserve the outstanding individuals in the next population.
Parent A
Parent B
Child A Child B
Rect 1 Rect 1
SN
RN
BS
Rect 2 Rect 2

Figure 1. Example of crossover operation
E. Crossover
In this paper, the crossover operator should thus take into
account the specifics of application scenarios. Similar to [21],
the crossover operator that we use is outlined in Alg. 2. Take
Fig. 1 for example. Obviously, Rect 1 moved to Chid B has
improved the 2-connected connectivity and reduces the number
of RNs with respect to that of Parent B and Rect 2 moved to
Child A has improved the 2-connected connectivity with re-
spect to that of Parent A.
Algorithm 2: Procedure of crossover operation
Step 1: Duplicate Parent A and Parent B and saved as Child A
and Child B respectively
Step 2: Select rectangles Rect 1 and Rect 2 randomly from
parents and children respectively
Step 3: Rect 1 of Parent A and Parent B are transferred into
Rect2 of Child B and Child A respectively

F. Mutation
Similar to [22], our mutation operator is composed of four
types of mutation operations: SingleMutate, RectMutate,
SmallMutate and SmallRectMutate. In this paper, the Probabil-
ities are set to 0.1, 0.3, 0.1, 0.5.
V. EXPERIMENT
In this section, we evaluate the performance of our algo-
rithm via simulations. In all simulation scenarios, we use the
number of RNs as the performance metric because our objec-
tive is to minimize the installation cost.
The SNs were randomly distributed in a
2
200 200m
square area. The communication range of each SN
S
l is 50m
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200

(a) Initial iteration (b) 20th iteration
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200

(c) 40th iteration (d) 200th iteration
Figure 2. Samples of best individual during the evolution process
and the communication range of each
R
l is 50m too. Initialize
parameters: 100 = popSize
0
50 T = 0.8 = 20 L =
10 K = , 0.6 =
c
P , 0.4
m
P = , 2 elitesCount = , the total itera-
tions of GA procedure, i.e. the iterations of the inner loops with
respect to GASA, is 200 L K = .
In what follows, the square area is divided into 20 20
cells of each side 10 w m = , i.e. 21 21
Z
N = . The rectangles
in the crossover and mutation operation are squares with side
randomly generated from ( ) ,15 w w and ( ) , 5 w w respectively.
The step of SmallMutate and SmallRectMutate in the mutation
operation is 5w.The initial population of GASA is randomly
generated.
As shown in Fig. 2 where the blue plus signs denote SNs,
the green filled circles denote RNs and the green filled square
denotes the BS, we shown four samples of best individuals
found at different steps during the evolution process of one run.
It is noted that with the increase of GA iterations (the iterations
of the inner loops with respect to GASA), the search tends to-
wards the global optimal direction and the number of RNs de-
creases. At last, a feasible solution and the network topology
shown in Fig. 2(d). In Fig. 2(d), the dashed lines present the
links between SNs and RNs and the sold lines denote the links
between RNs or RNs and BS. Fig. 3 shows the process of the
number of RNs varying with growing iterations. As shown in
Fig. 3, the number of RNs converges quickly in the early stage
of the process.
We also have experienced how the number of RNs varies
with the distribution of SNs and compared the performance of
the proposed GASA with GA and ILP [10] using CPLEX [23].
All of the following performance results are averaged over 15
runs of the same initializations. The result of comparison is
shown in Fig. 4.As shown in Fig. 4, the number of RNs in-
creases with the increasing of the number of SNs for small
number of SNs; But when the number of SNs reaches a certain
number(>50), the kind of increase becomes not substantial. It is
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
N
o
.

o
f

r
e
l
a
y

n
o
d
e
s
No. of iterations

Figure 3. No. of relay nodes versus No. of iterations
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
10
12
14
16
18
20
N
o
.

o
f

r
e
l
a
y

n
o
d
e
s
No. of sensor nodes
ILP
GA
GASA

Figure 4. No. of relay nodes versus No. of sensor nodes
because that when the network is dense enough, there is no
necessary to add additional RNs to meet 2CDCP. Comparing
GASA with GA, the number of RNs derived from GASA is
much smaller. Comparing GASA with ILP, the number of RNs
derived from GASA is far less than that of ILP when the densi-
ty of SNs is small; with the density of SNs increases the advan-
tage becomes not substantial.
VI. CONCLUSION
In order to deploy relay nodes with minimum cost for in-
dustrial fault-tolerant hierarchical wireless sensor networks, we
proposed a genetic simulated annealing hybrid algorithm to
optimize the relay node deployment. In such a network, instal-
lation cost depends on the number of RNs. The resilience to
single link failures is considered and the proposed method en-
sures that each SN can be covered by at least two RNs, and the
network RNs is 2-connected. We have evaluated the perfor-
mance of our approach by comparing it with GA and ILP. The
results have shown that the proposed GASA quickly converges
to the feasible solution within rational time and GASA leads to
improvements compared with GA and ILP though GASA con-
sumes little more time than GA and ILP. In order to improve
the performance of industrial wireless networks, the propaga-
tion characteristics of the wireless signal (such as signal inter-
ference, capacity, etc.) should be taken into account, which will
be discussed in the further study.
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