27,146 research outputs found
Distributed Target Tracking and Synchronization in Wireless Sensor Networks
Wireless sensor networks provide useful information for various applications but pose challenges in scalable information processing and network maintenance. This dissertation focuses on statistical methods for distributed information fusion and sensor synchronization for target tracking in wireless sensor networks.
We perform target tracking using particle filtering. For scalability, we extend centralized particle filtering to distributed particle filtering via distributed fusion of local estimates provided by individual sensors. We derive a distributed fusion rule from Bayes\u27 theorem and implement it via average consensus. We approximate each local estimate as a Gaussian mixture and develop a sampling-based approach to the nonlinear fusion of Gaussian mixtures. By using the sampling-based approach in the fusion of Gaussian mixtures, we do not require each Gaussian mixture to have a uniform number of mixture components, and thus give each sensor the flexibility to adaptively learn a Gaussian mixture model with the optimal number of mixture components, based on its local information. Given such flexibility, we develop an adaptive method for Gaussian mixture fitting through a combination of hierarchical clustering and the expectation-maximization algorithm. Using numerical examples, we show that the proposed distributed particle filtering algorithm improves the accuracy and communication efficiency of distributed target tracking, and that the proposed adaptive Gaussian mixture learning method improves the accuracy and computational efficiency of distributed target tracking.
We also consider the synchronization problem of a wireless sensor network. When sensors in a network are not synchronized, we model their relative clock offsets as unknown parameters in a state-space model that connects sensor observations to target state transition. We formulate the synchronization problem as a joint state and parameter estimation problem and solve it via the expectation-maximization algorithm to find the maximum likelihood solution for the unknown parameters, without knowledge of the target states. We also study the performance of the expectation-maximization algorithm under the Monte Carlo approximations used by particle filtering in target tracking. Numerical examples show that the proposed synchronization method converges to the ground truth, and that sensor synchronization significantly improves the accuracy of target tracking
Adaptive multi-target tracking in heterogeneous wireless sensor networks
Energy efficient multiple-target tracking
is an important application of Wireless Sensor Networks
(WSNs). Most prior studies consider tracking multiple tar-
gets as an extension of executing a single target tracking
algorithm multiple times, and use a single parameter for
energy efficiency. We consider various factors such as mul-
tiple targets tracked by the sensor, remaining energy of the
sensor and relative location of the sensor with respect to a
target's motion, in order to decide the tracking state of a
sensor in a distributed environment. Further, we explore
and identify the effective combination of these parameters
to optimize energy usage, depending on specific network
conditions. We then propose the Adaptive Multi-Target
Tracking (AMTT) algorithm that can recognize the network
condition based on local information without centralized
coordination, and uses effective parameters to achieve en-
ergy efficiency
Markov Decision Processes with Applications in Wireless Sensor Networks: A Survey
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) consist of autonomous and resource-limited
devices. The devices cooperate to monitor one or more physical phenomena within
an area of interest. WSNs operate as stochastic systems because of randomness
in the monitored environments. For long service time and low maintenance cost,
WSNs require adaptive and robust methods to address data exchange, topology
formulation, resource and power optimization, sensing coverage and object
detection, and security challenges. In these problems, sensor nodes are to make
optimized decisions from a set of accessible strategies to achieve design
goals. This survey reviews numerous applications of the Markov decision process
(MDP) framework, a powerful decision-making tool to develop adaptive algorithms
and protocols for WSNs. Furthermore, various solution methods are discussed and
compared to serve as a guide for using MDPs in WSNs
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