VDPA: A WSN deployment and analysis tool for road network security

A city-wide deployment of advanced sensing technology will, undoubtedly, transform the way we live and interact with the surroundings. A countless number of applications would be feasible if such deployment is available. Of immense importance is the protection of roads and other important infrastructure of a city. This is only one such application. Accordingly, we present an integrated tool which is a part of a comprehensive framework for supporting national security agencies in making informed decisions and achieving the best security outcomes. The proposed tool: Virtual Deployment and Performance Analysis tool (VDPA) will enable national security specialists to obtain automatically-generated, city-tailored Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) deployment plans, compare different deployments, test their functionality, get real deployment information, and many other important functions needed for a reliable technology application. Two deployment algorithms addressing WSN performance issues and homeland security (HS) interests are presented. Tool validation and suitability verification are accomplished through a set of three design case studies including the city of Chicago, IL, city of Milwaukee, WI, and the capital area of the state of Texas (also called greater Austin). For each case study, a deployment is first generated, then performance evaluation is done through simulation using appropriate routing protocols. Results show that large scale deployments can be easily designed and tested using VDPA. The tool is expected to greatly reduce the cost and effort associated with WSN-deployment planning and realization.