Decentralized scheduling of sensor networks for parameter estimation of spatio-temporal processes

Abstract

The activation scheduling problem for a scanning sensor network monitoring a spatio-temporal process is considered. The configuration of an activation schedule for network nodes measuring the system state is formulated in a sense of a suitable criterion quantifying an estimation accuracy for system parameters. Then, a decomposition of the scheduling problem is provided and a proper distribution of total computational effort and consensus between the network nodes is achieved via information flooding based on a pairwise communication scheme. As a result, a simple exchange algorithm is outlined to solve the design problem in a decentralized fashion. The proposed approach is illustrated on an example of sensor network configuration for monitoring an atmospheric pollution transport process.