This project will develop basic theory, algorithms, and experimental demonstrations of networks of autonomous mobile sensory platforms. Mobile sensor units enable a sensor network to transiently focus on events or locations that might be interesting or important while at the same time maintaining awareness of the overall environment. Particular focus on tasks where mobile sensory-motor platforms operate in human environments and interact with human operators. The consideration for theory and algorithms include: (1) use mobility to improve network performance; (2) facilitate the interaction between sensor networks and humans; and (3) improve the ability of networks to detect learned categories or events. New unsupervised learning methods will form the basis for object and event detection. We will demonstrate our methods on the Caltech Multi-Vehicle Wireless Testbed (MVWT), an experimental testbed at Caltech consisting of fan-driven and wheeled vehicles operating in a common environment endowed with a variety of sensors and communication schemes.
This is a project supported under the Sensors Initiative NSF 04-522.
