Abstract
This paper presents a class of signal processing techniques for collaborative signal processing in ad hoc sensor networks, focusing on a vehicle tracking application. In particular, we study two types of commonly used sensors--acoustic-amplitude sensors for target distance estimation and direction-of-arrival sensors for bearing estimation--and investigate how networks of such sensors can collaborate to extract useful information with minimal resource usage. The information-driven sensor collaboration has several advantages: tracking is distributed, and the network is energy-efficient, activated only on a when-needed basis. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach to target tracking using both simulation and field data.
Highlights
Sensors of various types have already become ubiquitous in modern life, from infrared motion detectors in our light switches to silicon accelerometers in the bumpers of our cars
Coverage of a large area is important for tracking events of a significant spatial extent as in tracking events of a significant spatial extent, as in tracking a large number of events simultaneously, or for tracking dynamic events traversing the sensing ranges of many individual sensors, as in tracking a moving vehicle
We describe a particular approach to collaborative signal processing
Summary
Sensors of various types have already become ubiquitous in modern life, from infrared motion detectors in our light switches to silicon accelerometers in the bumpers of our cars. As the cost of the sensors comes down rapidly due to advances in MEMS fabrication and because these sensors increasingly acquire networking and local processing capabilities, new types of software applications become possible, distributed among these everyday devices and performing functions previously impossible for any of the devices independently. Enabling such functionality without overtaxing the resources of the existing devices, especially when these devices are untethered and running on batteries, may require us to rethink some important aspects of how sensing systems are designed. Coverage of a large area is important for tracking events of a significant spatial extent as in tracking events of a significant spatial extent, as in tracking a large number of events simultaneously, or for tracking dynamic events traversing the sensing ranges of many individual sensors, as in tracking a moving vehicle
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