Analytical modeling of detection capability in ultra-low power wireless sensor networks

This paper addresses the problem of target detection with unattended Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) used for monitoring areas of interest. As battery energy depletion is very critical, especially in long-lasting surveillance scenarios, an attractive approach consists in making the wireless nodes switch on and off their sensing module according to given duty cycles. This operation has an impact on the network lifetime and the probability of target missed detection (Pmd), which mainly depends on the number of deployed nodes and the sensing duty cycle. In order to optimize the system parameters according to performance objectives, we derive an analytical model which allows to evaluate the Pmd, under the assumption of random node deployment. Then, we show different performance indicators to assess the detection capability of the system, not only for single-target detection but also in the case of a multiple-target detection scenario.