Vehicle identification using wireless sensor networks

We studied the possibility of using wireless sensor networks for vehicle identification. It is interesting because it is not only challenging but also practical. It is challenging to develop algorithms and/or protocols for sensor nodes to execute since each sensor node has limited computation and communication capabilities, and these limitations prohibit the use of algorithms and/or protocols developed for conventional computer and networks. It is practical since each sensor is dispensable and easily deployable, yet it can do meaningful works when it is collaborated as a networked cluster. Our goal is to identify vehicles in real time using acoustic signal sensors and wireless networks. Our contribution in this paper is two fold. First, we develop a simple vehicle sound identification algorithm enough to be implemented on capacity limited sensor nodes. Second, we propose architecture and protocols of wireless sensor networks for vehicle identification using this developed sound classification algorithm. Our preliminary results show the proposed architecture and protocols are promising.