Multi-Node Charging Planning Algorithm With an Energy-Limited WCE in WRSNs

Wireless energy replenishment using mobile wireless charging equipment (WCE) has been a hot topic recently in areas of wireless rechargeable sensor networks (WRSNs) and mobile computing. Previous studies of multi-node charging planning usually assumed that the WCE was equipped with sufficient energy to accomplish the charging task. However, the energy of the WCE is limited in practice. Therefore, a multi-node charging planning algorithm with energy-limited WCE in WRSNs is proposed in this paper. Moreover, three charging planning models and their corresponding charging planning algorithms are proposed based on the different real conditions of the WCE: sufficient moving energy and limited charging energy, limited moving energy and sufficient charging energy, as well as both limited moving energy and charging energy. Furthermore, a hybrid simulated annealing discrete fireworks algorithm (HSA-DFWA) is proposed due to the NP-Hard complexity of the charging planning problem. The experiments show that compared to DFWA, MM-ANT, E-greedy, and P-greedy algorithms, the HSA-DFWA outperforms these algorithms empirically.