31,886 research outputs found
Distributing the Kalman Filter for Large-Scale Systems
This paper derives a \emph{distributed} Kalman filter to estimate a sparsely
connected, large-scale, dimensional, dynamical system monitored by a
network of sensors. Local Kalman filters are implemented on the
(dimensional, where ) sub-systems that are obtained after
spatially decomposing the large-scale system. The resulting sub-systems
overlap, which along with an assimilation procedure on the local Kalman
filters, preserve an th order Gauss-Markovian structure of the centralized
error processes. The information loss due to the th order Gauss-Markovian
approximation is controllable as it can be characterized by a divergence that
decreases as . The order of the approximation, , leads to a lower
bound on the dimension of the sub-systems, hence, providing a criterion for
sub-system selection. The assimilation procedure is carried out on the local
error covariances with a distributed iterate collapse inversion (DICI)
algorithm that we introduce. The DICI algorithm computes the (approximated)
centralized Riccati and Lyapunov equations iteratively with only local
communication and low-order computation. We fuse the observations that are
common among the local Kalman filters using bipartite fusion graphs and
consensus averaging algorithms. The proposed algorithm achieves full
distribution of the Kalman filter that is coherent with the centralized Kalman
filter with an th order Gaussian-Markovian structure on the centralized
error processes. Nowhere storage, communication, or computation of
dimensional vectors and matrices is needed; only dimensional
vectors and matrices are communicated or used in the computation at the
sensors
Gone with the Wind ON_Mars (GOWON): A Wind-Driven Networked System of Mobile Sensors on Mars
We propose a revolutionary way of studying the sur-face of Mars using a
wind-driven network of mobile sensors- Gone with the Wind ON_Mars (GOWON).
GOWON is envisioned to be a scalable, 100% self energy-generating and
distributed system that allows in-situ mapping of a wide range of phenomena in
a much larger portion of the surface of Mars compared to earlier missions. It
could radically improve the possibility of finding rare phenomena like bio
signatures through random wind-driven search. It could explore difficult
terrains that were beyond the reach of previous missions, such as regions with
very steep slopes, cluttered surfaces and/or sand dunes; GOWON is envisioned as
an on going mission with a long life span. It could achieve any of NASA's
scientific objectives on Mars in a cost-effective way, leaving a long lasting
sensing and searching infrastructure on Mars. GOWON is a 2012 Step B invitee
for NASA Innovative Advanced Concept (NIAC). It addresses the challenge area of
the Mars Surface System Capabilities area. We believe the challenge to be
near-term, i.e., 2018-2024
KALwEN: a new practical and interoperable key management scheme for body sensor networks
Key management is the pillar of a security architecture. Body sensor networks (BSNs) pose several challenges–some inherited from wireless sensor networks (WSNs), some unique to themselves–that require a new key management scheme to be tailor-made. The challenge is taken on, and the result is KALwEN, a new parameterized key management scheme that combines the best-suited cryptographic techniques in a seamless framework. KALwEN is user-friendly in the sense that it requires no expert knowledge of a user, and instead only requires a user to follow a simple set of instructions when bootstrapping or extending a network. One of KALwEN's key features is that it allows sensor devices from different manufacturers, which expectedly do not have any pre-shared secret, to establish secure communications with each other. KALwEN is decentralized, such that it does not rely on the availability of a local processing unit (LPU). KALwEN supports secure global broadcast, local broadcast, and local (neighbor-to-neighbor) unicast, while preserving past key secrecy and future key secrecy (FKS). The fact that the cryptographic protocols of KALwEN have been formally verified also makes a convincing case. With both formal verification and experimental evaluation, our results should appeal to theorists and practitioners alike
Distributed Algorithms for Stochastic Source Seeking With Mobile Robot Networks
Autonomous robot networks are an effective tool for monitoring large-scale environmental fields. This paper proposes distributed control strategies for localizing the source of a noisy signal, which could represent a physical quantity of interest such as magnetic force, heat, radio signal, or chemical concentration. We develop algorithms specific to two scenarios: one in which the sensors have a precise model of the signal formation process and one in which a signal model is not available. In the model-free scenario, a team of sensors is used to follow a stochastic gradient of the signal field. Our approach is distributed, robust to deformations in the group geometry, does not necessitate global localization, and is guaranteed to lead the sensors to a neighborhood of a local maximum of the field. In the model-based scenario, the sensors follow a stochastic gradient of the mutual information (MI) between their expected measurements and the expected source location in a distributed manner. The performance is demonstrated in simulation using a robot sensor network to localize the source of a wireless radio signal
A Survey on Wireless Sensor Network Security
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have recently attracted a lot of interest in
the research community due their wide range of applications. Due to distributed
nature of these networks and their deployment in remote areas, these networks
are vulnerable to numerous security threats that can adversely affect their
proper functioning. This problem is more critical if the network is deployed
for some mission-critical applications such as in a tactical battlefield.
Random failure of nodes is also very likely in real-life deployment scenarios.
Due to resource constraints in the sensor nodes, traditional security
mechanisms with large overhead of computation and communication are infeasible
in WSNs. Security in sensor networks is, therefore, a particularly challenging
task. This paper discusses the current state of the art in security mechanisms
for WSNs. Various types of attacks are discussed and their countermeasures
presented. A brief discussion on the future direction of research in WSN
security is also included.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures, 2 table
Human Swarm Interaction: An Experimental Study of Two Types of Interaction with Foraging Swarms
In this paper we present the first study of human-swarm interaction comparing two fundamental types of interaction, coined intermittent and environmental. These types are exemplified by two control methods, selection and beacon control, made available to a human operator to control a foraging swarm of robots. Selection and beacon control differ with respect to their temporal and spatial influence on the swarm and enable an operator to generate different strategies from the basic behaviors of the swarm. Selection control requires an active selection of groups of robots while beacon control exerts an influence on nearby robots within a set range. Both control methods are implemented in a testbed in which operators solve an information foraging problem by utilizing a set of swarm behaviors. The robotic swarm has only local communication and sensing capabilities. The number of robots in the swarm range from 50 to 200. Operator performance for each control method is compared in a series of missions in different environments with no obstacles up to cluttered and structured obstacles. In addition, performance is compared to simple and advanced autonomous swarms. Thirty-two participants were recruited for participation in the study. Autonomous swarm algorithms were tested in repeated simulations. Our results showed that selection control scales better to larger swarms and generally outperforms beacon control. Operators utilized different swarm behaviors with different frequency across control methods, suggesting an adaptation to different strategies induced by choice of control method. Simple autonomous swarms outperformed human operators in open environments, but operators adapted better to complex environments with obstacles. Human controlled swarms fell short of task-specific benchmarks under all conditions. Our results reinforce the importance of understanding and choosing appropriate types of human-swarm interaction when designing swarm systems, in addition to choosing appropriate swarm behaviors
Statistical analysis of chemical computational systems with MULTIVESTA and ALCHEMIST
The chemical-oriented approach is an emerging paradigm for programming the behaviour of densely distributed and context-aware devices (e.g. in ecosystems of displays tailored to crowd steering, or to obtain profile-based coordinated visualization). Typically, the evolution of such systems cannot be easily predicted, thus making of paramount importance the availability of techniques and tools supporting prior-to-deployment analysis. Exact analysis techniques do not scale well when the complexity of systems grows: as a consequence, approximated techniques based on simulation assumed a relevant role. This work presents a new simulation-based distributed tool addressing the statistical analysis of such a kind of systems, which has been obtained by chaining two existing tools: MultiVeStA and Alchemist. The former is a recently proposed lightweight tool which allows to enrich existing discrete event simulators with distributed statistical analysis capabilities, while the latter is an efficient simulator for chemical-oriented computational systems. The tool is validated against a crowd steering scenario, and insights on the performance are provided by discussing how these scale distributing the analysis tasks on a multi-core architecture
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