Opportunistic exploitation of wireless infrastructures for homeland security

The diffusion of wireless infrastructures in public and private areas stimulates emerging applications oriented to the monitoring and protection of critical infrastructures as well as to the integration and fusion of sensor-based data for homeland security. In this framework, the possibility to exploit existing infrastructures connected through wireless links enables a truly pervasive and increased level of surveillance for people and property protection. In this work, connections among wireless devices sharing information and services are exploited to detect, classify and communicate rapidly and safely any possible threat represented by presence and movement of unknown targets. The proposed learning by example methodology enables the key requirement of real-time and computationally effective processing of the electromagnetic perturbations generated by non-cooperative targets moving throughout the areas where wireless infrastructures exist. Experimental results are reported to assess the feasibility of the proposed approach and to show the localization and tracking capabilities when dealing with real indoor scenarios where wireless networks are deployed.