Heterogeneous Bistatic Radars (BR) have different sensing ranges and couplings of sensing regions, which provide more flexible coverage for the boundary at complex terrain such as across rivers and valleys. Due to the Cassini oval sensing region of a BR and the coupling of sensing regions among different BRs, the coverage problem of BR sensor networks is very challenging. Existing works in BR barrier coverage focus mainly on homogeneous BR sensor networks. This paper studies the heterogeneous BR placement problem on a line barrier to achieve optimal coverage. 1) We investigate coverage differences of the basic placement sequences of heterogeneous BRs on the line barrier, and prove the optimal basic placement spacing patterns of heterogeneous BRs. 2) We study the coverage coupling effect among adjacent BRs on the line barrier, and determine that different placement sequences of heterogeneous BR transmitters will affect the barrier's coverage performance and length. The optimal placement sequence of heterogeneous BR barrier cannot be solved through the greedy algorithm. 3) We propose an optimal BRs placement algorithm on a line barrier when the heterogeneous BR transmitters' placement sequence is predetermined on the barrier, and prove it to be optimal. Through simulation experiments, we determine that the different placement sequences of heterogeneous BR transmitters have little influence on the barrier's maximum length. Then, we propose an approximate algorithm to optimize the BR placement spacing sequence on the heterogeneous line barrier. 4) As a heterogeneous barrier case study, a minimum cost coverage algorithm of heterogeneous BR barrier is presented. We validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms through theory analysis and extensive simulation experiments.
Keywords: heterogeneous bistatic radar sensor; heterogeneous wireless sensor networks; line barrier coverage; optimal deployment.