In this paper, we address a wireless sensor network deployment problem. It is considered when the deployment field is characterized by a geographical irregularity of the monitored event. Each point in the deployment area requires a specific minimum guarantee of event detection probability. Our objective is to generate the best network topology while minimizing cost of deployment, ensuring quality of monitoring and network connectivity, and optimizing network lifetime. The problem is formulated as combinatorial optimization problem, which is NP-complete. Unfortunately, due to the large solution state space and the exponential computational complexity, the exact methods can be applied only in the case of small-scale problem. To overcome the complexity of an optimal resolution, we propose new scalable deployment heuristics based on artificial potential field and Tabu search metaheuristic, namely potential field deployment algorithm (PFDA) and multi-objective deployment algorithm (MODA). We compare our proposal to the related deployment strategies, the obtained results show that PFDA and MODA obtain the best performances. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.