Bandwidth-Effective Design of a Satellite-Based Hybrid Wireless Sensor Network for Mobile Target Detection and Tracking

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have the potential to assist advanced target tracking applications. The major challenge related to the design of such networks is to cope with the energy and computational limitations that characterize sensor nodes. To address this problem, we propose a hybrid architecture that integrates two sensor categories. The first performs basic detection and tracking functions while the second supports complex tasks such as imaging and broadband communication via a satellite network. Moreover, we develop a technique that allows vision sensors adapting the rate of the exchanged data according to the target activity in the monitored zone. Finally, a tracking approach taking into consideration the error on local sensor position measurements is presented.