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Deploying wireless sensor networks in the ocean poses many challenges due to the harsh conditions of the ocean and the nonnegligible node mobility. In this paper, we propose hybrid ocean sensor networks called drifting restricted floating ocean sensor networks (DR-OSNs) for long-term maritime surveillance monitoring tasks, which combines both the advantages of wireless sensor networks and underwater wireless acoustic sensor networks. We present a localization scheme termed localization for double-head maritime sensor networks (LDSN) for DR-OSNs, which leverages the unique characteristics of DR-OSNs to establish the whole localization system after the network is deployed from a plane or a ship, and it does not need the presence of designated anchor nodes deployed underwater. The whole localization process consists of three steps with algorithms self-moored node localization (SML), underwater sensor localization (USD), and floating-node localization algorithm (FLA). The first step is for the super group nodes to localize their underwater moored nodes via an SML algorithm by leveraging the free-drifting movement of their surface nodes. Once the moored nodes in the super group nodes have localized themselves, they turn into anchor nodes underwater. Thus, in the second step, with the help of these new anchor nodes, the unlocalized underwater moored nodes use the USD algorithm to localize their positions. In the last step, when the free-drifting floating nodes without a Global Positioning System (GPS) module need to know their instant position, they apply the FLA to figure out their position. We conduct extensive simulations to evaluate the scheme, with the results indicating that LDSN achieves high localization accuracy and is an effective localization scheme for DR-OSNs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In traditional radio-based localization methods, the target object has to carry a transmitter (e.g., active RFID), a receiver (e.g., 802.11\times detector), or a transceiver (e.g., sensor node). However, in some applications, such as safe guard systems, it is not possible to meet this precondition. In this paper, we propose a model of signal dynamics to allow the tracking of a transceiver-free object. Based on radio signal strength indicator (RSSI), which is readily available in wireless communication, three centralized tracking algorithms, and one distributed tracking algorithm are proposed to eliminate noise behaviors and improve accuracy. The midpoint and intersection algorithms can be applied to track a single object without calibration, while the best-cover algorithm has higher tracking accuracy but requires calibration. The probabilistic cover algorithm is based on distributed dynamic clustering. It can dramatically improve the localization accuracy when multiple objects are present. Our experimental test-bed is a grid sensor array based on MICA2 sensor nodes. The experimental results show that the localization accuracy for single object can reach about 0.8 m and for multiple objects is about 1 m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transceiver-free object tracking is to trace a moving object that does not carry any communication device in an environment with some monitoring nodes predeployed. Among all the tracking technologies, RF-based technology is an emerging research field facing many challenges. Although we proposed the original idea, until now there is no method achieving scalability without sacrificing latency and accuracy. In this paper, we put forward a real-time tracking system RASS, which can achieve this goal and is promising in the applications like the safeguard system. Our basic idea is to divide the tracking field into different areas, with adjacent areas using different communication channels. So, the interference among different areas can be prevented. For each area, three communicating nodes are deployed on the ceiling as a regular triangle to monitor this area. In each triangle area, we use a Support Vector Regression (SVR) model to locate the object. This model simulates the relationship between the signal dynamics caused by the object and the object position. It not only considers the ideal case of signal dynamics caused by the object, but also utilizes their irregular information. As a result, it can reach the tracking accuracy to around 1 m by just using three nodes in a triangle area with 4 m in each side. The experiments show that the tracking latency of the proposed RASS system is bounded by only about 0.26 m. Our system scales well to a large deployment field without sacrificing the latency and accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topology control is an effective method to improve the energy efficiency of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Traditional approaches are based on the assumption that a pair of nodes is either "connected" or "disconnected." These approaches are called connectivity-based topology control. In real environments, however, there are many intermittently connected wireless links called lossy links. Taking a succeeded lossy link as an advantage, we are able to construct more energy-efficient topologies. Toward this end, we propose a novel opportunity-based topology control. We show that opportunity-based topology control is a problem of NP-hard. To address this problem in a practical way, we design a fully distributed algorithm called CONREAP based on reliability theory. We prove that CONREAP has a guaranteed performance. The worst running time is O(∣E∣), where E is the link set of the original topology, and the space requirement for individual nodes is O(d), where d is the node degree. To evaluate the performance of CONREAP, we design and implement a prototype system consisting of 50 Berkeley Mica2 motes. We also conducted comprehensive simulations. Experimental results show that compared with the connectivity-based topology control algorithms, CONREAP can improve the energy efficiency of a network up to six times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have attracted intense interest due to their extensible capability. In this paper, we attempt to answer a fundamental but practical question: "how should we deploy these nodes?" In most current designs, sensor nodes are randomly or uniformly distributed because of their simplicity. However, the node deployment has a great impact on the performance of WSNs. Instead of maintaining the coverage for some snapshots of a WSN, it is essential that we can provide a continuous coverage in the whole lifecycle of the WSN. We will exhibit the weakness of the uniform distribution by disclosing the fatal sink routing-hole problem. To address this problem, we propose a non-uniform, power-aware distribution scheme. Our analysis and simulation results show that the power-aware deployment scheme can significantly improve the long-term network connectivity and service quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many research activities on Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) need detailed performance statistics about protocols, systems, and applications; however, current simulation tools and testbeds lack mechanisms to report these statistics realistically and conveniently. To address this need, we have developed a WSN emulator, VMNet. VMNet emulates networked sensor nodes at the level of CPU clock cycles and executes the binary code of real applications directly. It emulates the radio channel with loss and noise as well as emulates the peripherals in sufficient detail. Moreover, VMNet takes parameter values from the real world and logs detailed runtime information of emulated nodes. Consequently, the application performance, both in response time and in power consumption, is reported realistically in VMNet, as demonstrated by our comparison studies with real sensor networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surveillance is a critical problem for harbor protection, border control or the security of commercial facilities. The effective protection of vast near-coast sea surfaces and busy harbor areas from intrusions of unauthorized marine vessels, such as pirates smugglers or, illegal fishermen is particularly challenging. In this paper, we present an innovative solution for ship intrusion detection. Equipped with three-axis accelerometer sensors, we deploy an experimental Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) on the sea's surface to detect ships. Using signal processing techniques and cooperative signal processing, we can detect any passing ships by distinguishing the ship-generated waves from the ocean waves. We design a three-tier intrusion detection system with which we propose to exploit spatial and temporal correlations of an intrusion to increase detection reliability. We conduct evaluations with real data collected in our initial experiments, and provide quantitative analysis of the detection system, such as the successful detection ratio, detection latency, and an estimation of an intruding vessel's velocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have witnessed the growing popularity of sensor and sensor-network technologies, supporting important practical applications. One of the fundamental issues is how to accurately locate a user with few labeled data in a wireless sensor network, where a major difficulty arises from the need to label large quantities of user location data, which in turn requires knowledge about the locations of signal transmitters or access points. To solve this problem, we have developed a novel machine learning-based approach that combines collaborative filtering with graph-based semi-supervised learning to learn both mobile users' locations and the locations of access points. Our framework exploits both labeled and unlabeled data from mobile devices and access points. In our two--phase solution, we first build a manifold-based model from a batch of labeled and unlabeled data in an offline training phase and then use a weighted k-nearest-neighbor method to localize a mobile client in an online localization phase. We extend the two-phase colocalization to an online and incremental model that can deal with labeled and unlabeled data that come sequentially and adapt to environmental changes. Finally, we embed an action model to the framework such that additional kinds of sensor signals can be utilized to further boost the performance of mobile tracking. Compared to other state-of-the-art systems, our framework has been shown to be more accurate while requiring less calibration effort in our experiments performed on three different testbeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable communications are essential for most applications in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In traditional approaches, the per-hop and end-to-end (E2E) recovery schemes are widely used. These schemes, however, suffer from low E2E success rate and poor energy efficiency in large-scale real environments. Through empirical studies, in this paper we identify three major problems that hinder the efficient and reliable communications. To address these problems, we propose a novel in-middle recovery scheme and realize it by designing and implementing a proliferation routing. Proliferation routing integrates three core technologies, namely, capability-based path finder, a randomized dispersity, and reproduction. Proliferation routing offers great flexibilities for transmissions. It cannot only be applied with any Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols and routing metrics, but also obtains a desired service quality (i.e., transmission success rate, energy cost, etc.) by controlling the system parameters. To demonstrate the effectiveness of proliferation routing, we thoroughly analyze its performance. We also conduct performance evaluations through implementation experiments as well as simulations. In a specific experimental setup, proliferation routing can increase the E2E transmission success rate up to 80 percent compared with the well-known hop-based routing and flooding. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]