Sensor-Based Allocation for Path Planning and Area Coverage using UGSs

The goal of the project is to incorporate situational awareness methods and performance evaluation using distributed unattended ground sensor (UGS) wireless sensor networks, area coverage, and path planning to monitor targets. Generalized measures of performance are utilized for determining which sensors to allocate to observe a moving target through obscurations. Using a variety of techniques in the literature, we propose a method of analysis for dynamic resource management for decision support. In this paper, we simulate a path planning object that moves to goal in the presence of obstacles. The distributed sensors must maintain area coverage and perform sensor management to maintain the path of the object. We investigated the sensor management functions of direct search, cueing, the sequential probability ratio test (SPRT), and information theoretical methods of KL divergence (or discrimination gain) and mutual information. These methods afford sensor hand-off and can be used to optimal place sensors to maintain are coverage and target tracking.