  The rapid deployment of wireless sensor network (WSN) poses the challenge of
finding optimal locations for the network nodes, especially so in (i) unknown
and (ii) obstacle-rich environments. This paper addresses this challenge with
BISON (Bio-Inspired Self-Organizing Network), a variant of the Voronoi
algorithm. In line with the scenario challenges, BISON nodes are restricted to
(i) locally sensed as well as (ii) noisy information on the basis of which they
move, avoid obstacles and connect with neighboring nodes. Performance is
measured as (i) the percentage of area covered, (ii) the total distance
traveled by the nodes, (iii) the cumulative energy consumption and (iv) the
uniformity of nodes distribution. Obstacle constellations and noise levels are
studied systematically and a collision-free recovery strategy for failing nodes
is proposed. Results obtained from extensive simulations show the algorithm
outperforming previously reported approaches in both, convergence speed, as
well as deployment cost.
