Switched Video Feedback for Sensor Deployment and Target Tracking in a Surveillance Network

Network surveillance systems provide extended perception and distributed sensing capability in monitored environments through real time monitoring of the target area and target objects using multiple networked sensors. The development of wireless communication and sensing technology make it possible to deploy networked surveillance systems in various environments. We consider a surveillance network where the sensors are static. The task of tracking targets in a surveillance network is challenging because of the following reasons: (1) the location of the sensors need to be optimally deployed. (2) The view of the sensors need to be optimized so that at a given time the targets are shown with a discernable resolution for feature identification. (3) It is important to devise stable control algorithms for accomplishing the surveillance task. When the target moves, it is important to switch the sensing task between sensors to maintain the visibility of the target with adequate resolution. This paper presents a novel method to deploy static sensors given a target region and a dynamic programming method to optimally switch sensors when the target moves. Finally, simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach for tracking targets over an area.