  In this paper, we analyze various critical transmitting/sensing ranges for
connectivity and coverage in three-dimensional sensor networks. As in other
large-scale complex systems, many global parameters of sensor networks undergo
phase transitions: For a given property of the network, there is a critical
threshold, corresponding to the minimum amount of the communication effort or
power expenditure by individual nodes, above (resp. below) which the property
exists with high (resp. a low) probability. For sensor networks, properties of
interest include simple and multiple degrees of connectivity/coverage. First,
we investigate the network topology according to the region of deployment, the
number of deployed sensors and their transmitting/sensing ranges. More
specifically, we consider the following problems: Assume that $n$ nodes, each
capable of sensing events within a radius of $r$, are randomly and uniformly
distributed in a 3-dimensional region $\mathcal{R}$ of volume $V$, how large
must the sensing range be to ensure a given degree of coverage of the region to
monitor? For a given transmission range, what is the minimum (resp. maximum)
degree of the network? What is then the typical hop-diameter of the underlying
network? Next, we show how these results affect algorithmic aspects of the
network by designing specific distributed protocols for sensor networks.
