A Simulation Tool for ASCTA Microsensor Network Architecture

Advances in technology have made the large-scale deployment of low-cost networked sensors possible for situational awareness. We developed a Simulation Tool for the Advanced Sensors Collaborative Technology Alliance (ASCTA) Microsensor Network Architecture (STAMINA) to evaluate the performance of networked sensor systems. This tool is built upon a commercial network simulator engine (QualNet), with extended capabilities to include both sensing and communication models in a discrete-event simulation environment. Using this tool, we can simulate target detection (sensing) and information dissemination (information fusion) via wireless communications under different parameters and scenarios, incorporating such metrics as target detection probabilities, false alarm rates, and communications load, and capturing effects of terrain and threat characteristics. An example of tool usage is presented illustrating the comparison of alternative microsensor network architectures such as localized-fusion, hierarchical-fusion, and distributed-fusion in the presence of false detection events. The trade-offs among these three different sensor architectures are examined under different fusion rules, sensing sliding window sizes, and false-event occurrence rates. Operating parameters that yield high detection and low false-alarm performance are examined.