In most applications of wireless sensor networks the specification of the corresponding topology can be useful for the optimization of some important features, such as: node energy consumption, connectivity and coverage area. This is known as the Sensor Allocation Problem (SAP). Our work proposes an approach based on memetic algorithm concepts to find high-quality solutions. In our approach, each node can be associated with one of four operation modes (classified according to its maximum range). The algorithm optimizes the position of each node and produces solution clusters. In order to evaluate the efficiency of the method, we analyze case studies with different coverage areas that are then compared against results previously found in the literature. Our experiments show that in order to achieve a smaller energy consumption and an increase in network coverage area, one needs to operate with a sizeable number of sensors, but with few nodes operating in larger transmission power modes (which require an increased energy expenditure).

在无线传感器网络的大多数应用中，相应拓扑的规范可用于优化一些重要特征，例如：节点能量消耗、连通性和覆盖区域。这称为传感器分配问题 (SAP)。我们的工作提出了一种基于模因算法概念的方法来寻找高质量的解决方案。在我们的方法中，每个节点都可以与四种操作模式之一相关联（根据其最大范围分类）。该算法优化每个节点的位置并产生解决方案集群。为了评估该方法的效率，我们分析了具有不同覆盖区域的案例研究，然后将其与文献中先前发现的结果进行比较。