When Collective Dynamic Knowledge Is Greater than the Sum of Its Parts: the Case for Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks

摘要

The use of wireless sensor networks is one of the most rapidly growing areas because of their broad applications -from medical care to environmental monitoring to military surveillance. This review paper surveys the use of collaborative mobile robotic agents in wireless sensor networks to improve detection and tracking performance. We first identify five major conditions influencing the applications in wireless sensor networks: situation awareness, priorities and metrics for goals or tasks, control and optimization, location and distribution of computing power, and location and distribution of electrical power. We then present a summary of design topics: coverage and deployment, localization, data fusion, communication protocols, and energy consumption and management. Anticipated research directions are also discussed in the conclusions.