Virtual Lock: A Smartphone Application for Personal Surveillance Using Camera Sensor Networks

This paper presents Virtual Lock, a novel smartphone application for personal surveillance using camera sensor networks. The proposed system consists of a smart phone and a set of easily deployable wireless camera sensor motes and enables an inexpensive solution to continuous monitoring of one's surroundings. Once camera sensor motes are deployed, a user can define multiple regions of interest for each camera's view using a smart phone application. Then the camera sensor network monitors for any changes in the defined regions of interest. If an event is detected, e.g., when a valuable good inside a region of interest is missing, the Virtual Lock system notifies the user via her smart phone. This paper describes the Virtual Lock system and demonstrates the potential of camera sensor networks.