Model and Placement Optimization of a Sky Surveillance Visual Sensor Network

Visual Sensor Networks (VSNs) are networks which generate two dimensional data. The major difference between VSN and ordinary sensor network is the large amount of data. In VSN, a large number of camera nodes form a distributed system which can be deployed in many potential applications. In this paper we present a model of the physical parameters of a visual sensor network to track large birds, such as Golden Eagle, in the sky. The developed model is used to optimize the placement of the camera nodes in the VSN. A camera node is modeled as a function of its field of view, which is derived by the combination of the lens focal length and camera sensor. From the field of view and resolution of the sensor, a model for full coverage between two altitude limits has been developed. We show that the model can be used to minimize the number of sensor nodes for any given camera sensor, by exploring the focal lengths that both give full coverage and meet the minimum object size requirement. For the case of large bird surveillance we achieve 100% coverage for relevant altitudes using 20 camera nodes per km² for the investigated camera sensors.