HyBloc: Localization in Sensor Networks with Adverse Anchor Placement

To determine the geographical positions of sensors, numerous localization algorithms have been proposed in recent years. The positions of sensors are inferred from the connectivity between sensors and a set of nodes called anchors which know their precise locations. We investigate the effect of adverse placement and density of anchors on the accuracies of different algorithms. We develop an algorithm called HyBrid Localization (HyBloc) to provide reliable localization service with a limited number of clustered anchors. HyBloc is distributed in nature with reasonable message overhead. Through simulations, we demonstrate that HyBloc provides more accurate location estimates than some existing distributed algorithms when there are only a few anchors. HyBloc also performs well when anchors are clustered together

Localization in Wireless Sensor Networks

International audienceWith the proliferation of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) applications, knowing the node current location have become a crucial requirement. Location awareness enables various applications from object tracking to event monitoring, and also supports core network services such as: routing, topology control, coverage, boundary detection and clustering. Therefore, WSN localization have become an important area that attracted significant research interest. In the most common case, position related parameters are first extracted from the received measurements, and then used in a second step for estimating the position of the tracked node by means of a specific algorithm. From this perspective, this chapter is intended to provide an overview of the major localization techniques, in order to provide the reader with the necessary inputs to quickly understand the state-of-the-art and/or apply these techniques to localization problems such as robot networks. We first review the most common measurement techniques, and study their theoretical accuracy limits in terms of Cramer-Rao lower bounds. Secondly, we classify the main localization algorithms, taking those measurements as input in order to provide an estimated position of the tracked node(s)

Optimisation de la transmission d'images dans les réseaux de capteurs pour des applications critiques de surveillance

L émergence de petites caméras CMOS et de microphones MEMS, à coût et puissance réduits, a contribué au développement d une technologie permettant la transmission de flux multimédia (audio, image, vidéo) : les réseaux de capteurs multimédia. Cette technologie, offrant de nouvelles perspectives d applications potentielles où la collecte d informations visuelles et/ou acoustiques apporte une plus- value certaine, suscite un intérêt manifeste. Avec des données multimédia, la qualité de service devient désormais une exigence fondamentale pour la transmission dans un environnement contraint en ressources. Dans le contexte spécifique de cette thèse, nous considérons un déploiement par voie aérienne d une grande quantité de capteurs image pour des applications critiques de surveillance telles que la détection d intrusion ou des opérations de recherche et sauvetage. La prise en compte de la criticité des applications constitue un aspect important de cette thèse, novateur par rapport aux contributions déjà effectuées dans le domaine. Nos travaux se fondent sur une méthode d ordonnancement adaptatif de l activité des capteurs image qui fournit, pour chacun d entre eux, son ensemble de cover-sets. La détection d un événement dans le réseau déclenche la transmission d une large quantité d informations visuelles, émanant de plusieurs sources pour résoudre les ambiguïtés. L objectif de cette thèse est d optimiser cette transmission simultanée d images causant des désagréments sur le réseau. Nous avons tout d abord proposé une stratégie de sélection des cover-sets pertinents à activer pour une transmission efficace des images capturées. Cette stratégie, basée sur des critères d état et de voisinage, assure un compromis entre autonomie et criticité. Une extension multi-chemin de GPSR assure la remontée des images émises des sources sélectionnées au puits. Une seconde contribution, également une approche de sélection, se fonde sur les informations de chemins à 2 sauts pour la sélection des cover-sets. Contrairement à la précédente, elle accorde une priorité à la criticité par rapport à la préservation de l énergie, même si cette préservation est faite de manière indirecte. Un protocole de routage multi-chemin T-GPSR essentiellement basé sur les informations à 2 sauts est associé à la seconde approche de sélection. Une étude de performances de la mobilité du puits sur les propositions basées sur les informations à 2 sauts constitue notre troisième contribution.Recent advances of inexpensive and low-power CMOS cameras and MEMS mi- crophones have led to the emergence of Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs). WMSNs promise a wide spectrum of potential applications which require to ubiquitously capture multimedia content (visual and audio information). To support the transmission of multimedia content in a resource constrained environment, WMSNs may require a certain level of quality of service (QoS) in terms of delay, bandwidth, jitter, reliability, quality level etc. In this thesis, we consider Wireless Image Sensor Networks (WISNs) where sensor nodes equipped with miniaturized visual cameras to provide accurate information in various geographical parts of an area of interest can be thrown in mass for mission-critical applications such as intrusion detection or search & rescue. An innovative and important aspect of this thesis is to take into account the criticality of applications. The network adopts an adaptive scheduling of image sensor node s activity based on the application criticality level, where each node computes its cover-sets. So, event detection triggers the simulataneous transmission of a large volume of visual data from multiples sources to the Sink. The main objective of this thesis is to optimize this simultaneous transmission of images that can degrade network performance. With this goal in mind, we first proposed a multi-criteria approach to select the suitable cover-sets to be activated for reliable transmission of images in mission-critical applications. The proposed approach takes into account various parameters that affect the image quality at the Sink in a multi-hop transmission network and guarantees a compromise between autonomy and criticality. A modified version of GPSR routing protocol supporting the transmission of multimedia streams ensures the transfer of images from selected sources to the Sink. The second contribution consists in an optimized selection strategy based on 2-hop neighborhood information to determine the most relevant cover-sets to be activated to increase reliability for image transmission. This selection approach prioritizes the application s criticality. A multipath extension of GPSR, called T-GPSR, wherein routing decisions are based 2-hop neighborhood information is also proposed. A performance study of the sink mobility on proposals based on 2-hop information is our third contribution.PAU-BU Sciences (644452103) / SudocSudocFranceF

A supporting infrastructure for Wireless Sensor Networks in Critical Industrial Environments

Tese de doutoramento no Programa de Doutoramento em Ciências e Tecnologias da Informação apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra.As Redes de Sensores Sem Fios (RSSFs) têm uma aplicabilidade muito elevada nas mais diversas áreas, como na indústria, nos sistemas militares, na saúde e nas casas inteligentes. No entanto, continuam a existir várias limitações que impedem que esta tecnologia tenha uma utilização extensiva. A fiabilidade é uma destas principais limitações que tem atrasado a adopção das RSSFs em ambientes industriais, principalmente quando sujeitos a elevadas interferências e ruídos. Por outro lado, a interoperabilidade é também um dos principais requisitos a cumprir nomeadamente com o avanço para o paradigma da Internet of Things. A determinação da localização dos nós, principalmente dos nós móveis, é, também ele, um requisito crítico em muitas aplicações. Esta tese de doutoramento propõe novas soluções para a integração e para a localização de RSSFs que operem em ambientes industriais e críticos. Como os nós sensores são, na maioria das vezes, instalados e deixados sem intervenção humana durante longos períodos de tempo, isto é, meses ou mesmo anos, é muito importante oferecer processos de comunicação fiável. No entanto, muitos problemas ocorrem durante a transmissão dos pacotes, nomeadamente devido a ruídos, interferências e perda de potência do sinal. A razão das interferências deve-se à existência de mais do que uma rede ou ao espalhamento espectral que ocorre em determinadas frequências. Este tipo de problemas é mais severo em ambientes dinâmicos nos quais novas fontes de ruído pode ser introduzidas em qualquer instante de tempo, nomeadamente com a chegadas de novos dispositivos ao meio. Consequentemente, é necessário que as RSSFs tenham a capacidade de lidar com as limitações e as falhas nos processos de comunicação. O protocolo Dynamic MAC (DunMAC) proposto nesta dissertação utiliza técnicas de rádio cognitivo (CR) para que a RSSF se adapte, de forma dinâmica, a ambientes instáveis e ruidosos através da selecção automática do melhor canal durante o período de operação. As RSSFs não podem operar em isolação completa do meio, e necessitam de ser monitoradas e controladas por aplicações externas. Apesar de ser possível adicionar a pilha protocolar IP aos nós sensores, este procedimento não é adequado para muitas aplicações. Para estes casos, os modelos baseados em gateway ou proxies continuam a apresentar-se preferíveis para o processo de integração. Um dos desafios existentes para estes processos de integração é a sua adaptabilidade, isto é, a capacidade da gateway ou do proxy poder ser reutilizado sem alterações por outras aplicações. A razão desta limitação deve-se aos consumidores finais dos dados serem aplicações e não seres humanos. Logo, é difícil ou mesmo impossível criar normas para as estruturas de dados dada a infinidade de diferentes formatos. É então desejável encontrar uma solução que permita uma integração transparente de diferentes RSSFs e aplicações. A linguagem Sensor Traffic Description Language (STDL) proposta nesta dissertação propõe uma solução para esta integração através de gateways e proxies flexíveis e adaptados à diversidade de aplicações, e sem recorrer à reprogramação. O conhecimento da posição dos nós sensores é, também ele, crítico em muitas aplicações industriais como no controlo da deslocação dos objectos ou trabalhadores. Para além do mais, a maioria dos valores recolhidos dos sensores só são úteis quando acompanhados pelo conhecimento do local onde esses valores foram recolhidos. O Global Positioning Systems (GPS) é a mais conhecida solução para a determinação da localização. No entanto, o recurso ao GPS em cada nó sensor continua a ser energeticamente ineficiente e impraticável devido aos custos associados. Para além disso, os sistemas GPS não são apropriados para ambientes in-door. Este trabalho de doutoramento propõe-se actuar nestas áreas. Em particular, é proposto, implementado e avaliado o protocolo DynMAC para oferecer fiabilidade às RSSFs. Para a segunda temática, a linguagem STDL e o seu motor são propostos para suportar a integração de ambientes heterogéneos de RSSFs e aplicações. As soluções propostas não requerem reprogramação e suportam também serviços de localização nas RSSFs. Diferentes métodos de localização foram avaliados para estimar a localização dos nós. Assim, com estes métodos as RSSFs podem ser usadas como componentes para integrar e suportar a Futura Internet. Todas as soluções propostas nesta tese foram implementadas e validadas tanto em simulação com em plataformas práticas, laboratoriais e industriais.The Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) has a countless number of applications in almost all of the fields including military, industrial, healthcare, and smart home environments. However, there are several problems that prevent the widespread of sensor networks in real situations. Among them, the reliability of communication especially in noisy industrial environments is difficult to guarantee. In addition, interoperability between the sensor networks and external applications is also a challenge. Moreover, determining the position of nodes, particularly mobile nodes, is a critical requirement in many types of applications. My original contributions in this thesis include reliable communication, integration, localization solutions for WSNs operating in industrial and critical environments. Because sensor nodes are usually deployed and kept unattended without human intervention for a long duration, e.g. months or even years, it is a crucial requirement to provide the reliable communication for the WSNs. However, many problems arise during packet transmission and are related to the transmission medium (e.g. signal path-loss, noise and interference). Interference happens due to the existence of more than one network or by the spectral spread that happens in some frequencies. This type of problem is more severe in dynamic environments in which noise sources can be introduced at any time or new networks and devices that interfere with the existing one may be added. Consequently, it is necessary for the WSNs to have the ability to deal with the communication failures. The Dynamic MAC (DynMAC) protocol proposed in this thesis employs the Cognitive Radio (CR) techniques to allow the WSNs to adapt to the dynamic noisy environments by automatically selecting the best channel during its operation time. The WSN usually cannot operate in complete isolation, but it needs to be monitored, controlled and visualized by external applications. Although it is possible to add an IP protocol stack to sensor nodes, this approach is not appropriate for many types of WSNs. Consequently, the proxy and gateway approach is still a preferred method for integrating sensor networks with external networks and applications. The problem of the current integration solutions for WSNs is the adaptability, i.e., the ability of the gateway or proxy developed for one sensor network to be reused, unchanged, for others which have different types of applications and data frames. One reason behind this problem is that it is difficult or even impossible to create a standard for the structure of data inside the frame because there are such a huge number of possible formats. Consequently, it is necessary to have an adaptable solution for easily and transparently integrating WSNs and application environments. In this thesis, the Sensor Traffic Description Language (STDL) was proposed for describing the structure of the sensor networks’ data frames, allowing the framework to be adapted to a diversity of protocols and applications without reprogramming. The positions of sensor nodes are critical in many types of industrial applications such as object tracking, location-aware services, worker or patient tracking, etc. In addition, the sensed data is meaningless without the knowledge of where it is obtained. Perhaps the most well-known location-sensing system is the Global Positioning System (GPS). However, equipping GPS sensor for each sensor node is inefficient or unfeasible for most of the cases because of its energy consumption and cost. In addition, GPS is not appropriate in some environments, e.g., indoors. Similar to the original concept of WSNs, the localization solution should also be cheap and with low power consumption. This thesis aims to deal with the above problems. In particular, in order to add the reliability for WSN, DynMAC protocol was proposed, implemented and evaluated. This protocol adds a mechanism to automatically deal with the noisy and changeable environments. For the second problem, the STDL and its engine provide the adaptable capability to the framework for interoperation between sensor networks and external applications. The proposed framework requires no reprogramming when deploying it for new applications and protocols of WSNs. Moreover, the framework also supports localization services for positioning the unknown position sensor nodes in WSNs. The different localization methods are employed to estimate the location of mobile nodes. With the proposed framework, WSNs can be used as plug and play components for integrating with the Future Internet. All the proposed solutions were implemented and validated using simulation and real testbeds in both the laboratory and industrial environments