Price theory framework for target tracking using multi-modal sensors

We propose a unified framework for jointly solving the problems of sensor selection (SS), resource allocation (RA) and data fusion (DF) in multi-modal sensor networks. Our framework is inspired by the trading behavior in commercial markets. We develop an iterative double-auction mechanism for computing the equilibrium of the market. The equilibrium point corresponds to the joint solution of SS, RA, DF problems. To illustrate the framework, we consider a scenario where the objective is to track an unknown variable number of moving targets of different categories, using a sensor network comprising of a multistatic radar, infrared camera, and a human scout. Numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.