Distributed multi-camera synchronization for smart-intruder detection

This work proposes algorithms to control the trajectory of a team of cameras for video surveillance. We consider a chain of cameras installed in an environment. These cameras are used to detect smart intruders, who are aware of the cameras´ configuration at each time instant, and who schedule their motion to avoid detection, if possible. For this problem setup, we first obtain a lower bound on the worst-case and on the average detection time of a smart intruder. We then propose a team trajectory for the cameras, called the equal-waiting trajectory, with minimum worst-case detection time and constant-factor optimal average detection time. Additionally, we design and analyse a distributed algorithm to steer the cameras in finite time towards the equal-waiting trajectory. Finally, the performance and robustness of our distributed algorithm is further analyzed through a simulation study.