A Fully Decentralized Multi-Sensor System For Tracking and Surveillance

DOI Web Site 6 Citations
  • B.S.Y. Rao
    Program for Advanced Technology on the Highway University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California 94709
  • H.F. Durrant-Whyte
    Department of Engineering Science University of Oxford Oxford, OX1 3PJ, England
  • J.A. Sheen
    British Aerospace PLC Bristol, BS12 7QW, England

Abstract

<jats:p> In many tracking and surveillance systems, multisensor config urations are used to provide a greater breadth of measurement information and also to increase the capability of the system to survive individual sensor failure. Most architectures currently used in such systems rely on having either a central processor where global data fusion takes place or a central communi cations medium through which all messages between sensors must pass. Such centralized architectures give rise to problems with communication and computational bottlenecks and are susceptible to total system failure should the central facility fail. </jats:p><jats:p> In this article we describe a multisensor surveillance system that achieves a high degree of survivability by employing a decentralized sensing architecture (Durrant-Whyte, Rao, and Hu 1990). Using CCD cameras and optical barriers the system is able to track (in real time) people and robots as they move around a factory room. The decentralized sensing architecture takes the form of a network of Transputer-based sensor nodes, each with its own processing facility, that together do not re quire any central processor, any central communication facility, or any common clock. In this architecture, computation is per formed locally, and communication occurs between any two nodes as and when required. </jats:p><jats:p> The starting point for the surveillance system is an algo rithm that allows complete decentralization of the multisensor Kalman filter equations among a number of sensing nodes. We develop the algorithm to ensure that internodal commu nication is minimized and can take place without any prior synchronization between nodes. By designing a suitable track management scheme, we are able to extend the system to cope with multitarget tracking. Finally, the specific sensors used in the implementation are interfaced to the algorithm, and the results of the working system are given. </jats:p>

Journal

Citations (6)*help

See more

Keywords

Details 詳細情報について

Report a problem

Back to top