The effects of motion on distributed detection in mobile ad-hoc sensor networks

A set of mobile wireless sensors observe their environment as they move about. We consider the subset of these sensors that each made observations when they were all at approximately the same time/location. As they continue to move, one of them processes its observations and decides that an event that must be reported has taken place. To reduce the probability of a false alarm, this sensor assumes the role of a Cluster-Head (CH) and requests that all other sensors that collected observations at that time/location reply with their decisions. The motion of each sensor determines how many wireless hops its decision data must make to reach the CH. We analyze the effect of this motion in the 1D case by modeling each sensor's motion as a Correlated Random Walk (CRW), which can account for transient behavior, geographical restrictions, and nonzero drift. Quantities, such as the energy required to collect the decision from all relevant sensors and the error probability of the final decision at the CH, can then be determined as a function of time.