Title: Model, placement optimisation and verification of a sky surveillance visual sensor network

Authors: Naeem Ahmad; Muhammad Imran; Khursheed Khursheed; Najeem Lawal; Mattias O'Nils; Bengt Oelmann

Addresses: Division of Electronics Design, Department of Information Technology and Media, Mittuniversitetet, Holmgatan 10, 851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden ' Division of Electronics Design, Department of Information Technology and Media, Mittuniversitetet, Holmgatan 10, 851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden ' Division of Electronics Design, Department of Information Technology and Media, Mittuniversitetet, Holmgatan 10, 851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden ' Division of Electronics Design, Department of Information Technology and Media, Mittuniversitetet, Holmgatan 10, 851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden ' Division of Electronics Design, Department of Information Technology and Media, Mittuniversitetet, Holmgatan 10, 851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden ' Division of Electronics Design, Department of Information Technology and Media, Mittuniversitetet, Holmgatan 10, 851 70 Sundsvall, Sweden

Abstract: A visual sensor network (VSN) is a distributed system of a large number of camera nodes, which generates two dimensional data. This paper presents a model of a VSN to track large birds, such as golden eagle, in the sky. The model optimises the placement of camera nodes in VSN. A camera node is modelled as a function of lens focal length and camera sensor. The VSN provides full coverage between two altitude limits. The model can be used to minimise the number of sensor nodes for any given camera sensor, by exploring the focal lengths that fulfils both the full coverage and minimum object size requirement. For the case of large bird surveillance, 100% coverage is achieved for relevant altitudes using 20 camera nodes per km² for the investigated camera sensors. A real VSN is designed and measurements of VSN parameters are performed. The results obtained verify the VSN model.

Keywords: visual sensor networks; VSNs; coverage; camera placement; bird surveillance; deployment optimisation; measurements; bird tracking; large birds; golden eagles; camera sensors; sky surveillance; modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSC.2013.056380

International Journal of Space-Based and Situated Computing, 2013 Vol.3 No.3, pp.125 - 135

Received: 09 Apr 2012
Accepted: 27 Jan 2013
Published online: 23 Aug 2014 *

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