PORTENT: Predator Aware Situation Assessment for Wireless Sensor Network Surveillance Applications

In this paper, we propose a distributed predator aware situation assessment system (PORTENT) to model and detect potential events occurring within an uncertain environment. PORTENT draws inspiration from how the mammalian brain detects and makes rational decisions through assessing fragmented signals of threat, within uncertainty, at different speeds. PORTENT represents the faster system using standard signal detection theory and the slower more accurate system as the integration of sensory data over time, until a certain level of confidence is reached. We also consider strategies to how both these systems could be combined optimally, to enhance PORTENT situation assessment performance. Our experimental simulations to verify the PORTENT concept demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach.