Networked Ultrasonic Sensors for Target Tracking: An Experimental Study

As an emerging application, tracking mobile targets using distributed and networked sensors is gaining noticeable attentions in recent years. In this paper, we utilize ultrasonic sensors, which are traditionally viewed as basic ranging components, to build a target detection and tracking system. An integrated sensor node, with one communication/computation module, one Passive InfraRed (PIR) module and three ultrasonic modules, is designed to support local detection/ranging, data filtering and result reporting. Comprised of a set of the designed sensor nodes, our system is able to track the position of a dynamic target, using Extended Kalman Filter. Simulations and experimental results are given to evaluate performance bound and demonstrate the efficiency of our system.