A Cluster-Based Approach for Collaborative Target Tracking in Wireless Sensor Networks

Target tracking is an important application of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). A primary criterion of wireless sensor networks is the energy efficiency. This paper proposes a cluster-based approach for collaborative single target tracking in dense wireless sensor networks. In this approach, the sensor nodes collectively monitor and track the movement of the target. This involves detecting, clustering and localization of target. Detection of target is initiated by the phenomenon emitted by the target. Sensor nodes are dynamically clustered based on received signal strength. The function of leader sensor node is to compute the location of target, based on the information obtained from other sensor nodes in its cluster. An energy-based target localization algorithm is used to localize the target. This paper focuses on tracking error and energy management involved in tracking the target.