In this paper, we propose a hospital sensor network deployment method for smart healthcare systems. Since sensor nodes in hospitals are always in an environment where power can be supplied, it is essential to have stable network connectivity by achieving optimal gateway deployment, rather than focusing on energy efficiency. The proposed technique leads to an access point (AP) layout that minimizes the overall network operation cost. The operation cost is calculated per unit time, and it includes installation cost and maintenance cost. In addition, group numbers are assigned to sensor nodes for guaranteeing network connectivity, no matter where the mobile sensor devices move. The performance of the proposed methodology has been verified through numerical experiments.
Keywords: group numbers; hospital sensor network; network operation cost; optimal gateway deployment.