Test-bed design for target detection and tracking using wireless sensor networks

Scope and Method of Study. This project is to design a test-bed for developing and testing moving target detection and tracking algorithm using wireless sensor networks (WSNs). A Wireless sensor network is a collection of devices that observe physical phenomenon, process them and communicates the data for collaborative decision making.;"Detection" is to tell if there is a target in a field. "Tracking" is to estimate the path of the moving target. The hardware is developed to integrate sensors like IR and microphone sensors and actuators (stepper motor) to the wireless micro-controller and provide an interface to observe and control the network. The hardware-software interface is developed with the primary consideration of processing data in real-time and providing feedback to the network. The feedback (reverse channel communication) is used to provide control of actuators on individual sensor nodes from the central data processing and control application. This study discusses the major design issues faced during development of the test-bed and the algorithm itself. Solutions to these issues were developed both in hardware and software. These features are critical to any type of application developed on this platform. The platform provides a comprehensive hardware-software interface and application development framework to create and test algorithms with data acquired by the wireless sensor network (WSN).;The hardware and software developed for this platform is tested by designing a target detection and tracking algorithm, deploying it on the network and testing it in runtime. The efficiency of the platform and the different debugging features developed for this test-bed are studied in this work.