Activity aware video collection to minimize resource usage in smart camera nodes

We envision future video sensor networks comprising tether-less smart camera nodes capable of supporting a variety of applications, ranging from video surveillance to traffic management, smart environments to ecological monitoring, etc. A key difference between video sensor networks and traditional multi-camera systems is that the later typically are not concerned with power, storage, and bandwidth usage. Power requirements, especially, must be considered when designing tether-less smart camera networks, since the operational life of a camera node is closely tied to the available power. Video capture and processing performed on a camera node and the communication between nodes needed to carry out collaborative sensing tasks impact power usage of these camera nodes. Therefore, one must devise strategies to minimize video capture and processing at each node and communication between nodes in order to reduce power consumption at each node, thereby increasing the operational life of a video sensor network.