Target tracking with binary proximity sensors
Abstract
We explore fundamental performance limits of tracking a target in a two-dimensional field of binary proximity sensors, and design algorithms that attain those limits while providing minimal descriptions of the estimated target trajectory. Using geometric and probabilistic analysis of an idealized model, we prove that the achievable spatial resolution in localizing a target's trajectory is of the order of 1/ρ R , where R is the sensing radius and ρ is the sensor density per unit area. We provide a geometric algorithm for computing an economical (in descriptive complexity) piecewise linear path that approximates the trajectory within this fundamental limit of accuracy. We employ analogies between binary sensing and sampling theory to contend that only a “lowpass” approximation of the trajectory is attainable, and explore the implications of this observation for estimating the target's velocity. We also consider nonideal sensing, employing particle filters to average over noisy sensor observations, and geometric geometric postprocessing of the particle filter output to provide an economical piecewise linear description of the trajectory. In addition to simulation results validating our approaches for both idealized and nonideal sensing, we report on lab-scale experiments using motes with acoustic sensors.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 2009
- Source ID
- 10.1145/1614379.1614382
Entities
People
- Nisheeth Shrivastava
- Raghuraman Mudumbai
- Subhash Suri
- Upamanyu Madhow
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- Division of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure
- Division of Computer and Network Systems
- Division of Computing and Communication Foundations
- Office of Naval Research
- University of California, Santa Barbara