Analysis on Probabilistic View Coverage for Image Sensing - A Geometric Approach

In this paper we study the probabilistic view coverage problem for image sensing in wireless sensor networks. The view coverage of an image sensor network determines the quality of the surveillance services that an image sensor network can provide. In this paper, we present an indepth analysis on probabilistic view coverage in an image sensor network, where omnidirectional image sensors are randomly dropped to a given field and the locations of the image sensors may not be immediately known. We intend to answer the following question: if we randomly drop a given number of image sensors into a targeted field, what is the probability that a given area of interest can be effectively imaged and view-covered. The key to our analytical approach is to cast the probabilistic view coverage problem in wireless image sensor networks as a geometric one and then use the geometric techniques to find the solution. The analysis in this paper provides probabilistic assurance of the view coverage that one can expect for random dropping of omnidirectional image sensors into a given field.