Pursuit Control Over Wireless Sensor Networks Using Distance Sensitivity Properties

In this technical note, we focus on a control based surveillance application using a wireless sensor network in which information from the network is used to actively guide a mobile agent leading to eventual pursuit of one or more evaders in a large region. We exploit distance sensitivity as a locality concept in designing a scalable pursuit control system that accounts for network constraints. Specifically, we show that eventual pursuit is satisfied if information about an evader is available to the pursuing agent with error, latency and frequency that decrease linearly with distance from the evader. Then, we design network algorithms for delivering snapshots of the system that satisfy these distance sensitivity properties.