Target tracking with binary proximity sensors: fundamental limits, minimal descriptions, and algorithms

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. In particular, 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 ρR , where R is the sensing radius and ρ is the sensor density per unit area. Using an Occam’s razor approach, we then design 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 show through simulation the effectiveness of the geometric algorithm in tracking both the traj...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: SENSYS
• Authors: Nisheeth Shrivastava, Raghuraman Mudumbai, Upamanyu Madhow, Subhash Suri
• Keywords: Algorithm, Geometric Algorithm, Sensor Networks, SENSYS 2006, Trajectory