Editorial Review

This excellent title introduces the concept of mission-oriented sensor networks as distributed dynamic systems of interacting sensing devices that are networked to jointly execute complex real-time missions under uncertainity. It provides the latest, yet unpublished results on the main technical and application challenges of mission-oriented sensor networks.

The authors of each chapter are research leaders from multiple disciplines who are presenting their latest innovations on the issues. Together, the editors have compiled a comprehensive treatment of the subject that flows smoothly from chapter to chapter. This interdisciplinary approach significantly enhances the science and technology knowledge base and influences the military and civilian applications of this field.

Author Information

Dr. Shashi Phoha is the Guest Editor of IEEE Transactions in Mobile Computing, Special Issue on Mission-Oriented Sensor Networks. She is the Head of the Information Sciences and Technology Division of ARL and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Pennsylvania State University. She has led major research programs of multimillion dollars for military sensor networks in industry as well as in academia. In addition to more than a hundred journal articles, she authored or co-authored several books in related areas.

Dr. Thomas La Porta is the Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing. He received his B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. degrees from The Cooper Union, New York, NY and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, New York, NY. He joined the Computer Science and Engineering Department at Penn State in 2002 as a Full Professor. He is Director of the Networking Research Center at Penn State.

Prior to joining Penn State, Dr. LaPorta was with Bell Laboratories since 1986. He was the Director of the Mobile Networking Research Department Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, where he led various projects in wireless and mobile networking. He is an IEEE Fellow, Bell Labs Fellow, received the Bell Labs Distinguished Technical Staff Award, and an Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer Award. He has published over 50 technical papers and holds over 20 patents.

Christopher Griffin holds a Masters degree in Mathematics from Penn State and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. there. Mr. Griffin has worked as a research engineer at the Penn State Applied Research Laboratory for the last six years on several DARPA and or Army Research Laboratory sponsored programs, including: the Emergent Surveillance Plexus (ESP) program as a lead engineer; the DARPA sponsored Semantic Information Fusion program under the SensIT initiative, where he co-developed a distributed target tracking system and managed the development of a target classification algorithm using Level 1 sensor fusion techniques; as a co-principal software architect for the DARPA Joint Force Component Controller (JFACC) initiative, an adaptive C2 program aimed at improving Air Force response times; and he was the principal software architect for the Boeing/ARFL Insertion of Embedding Infosphere Technology (IEIST) program. His areas of research expertise are distributed tracking systems, mission oriented control, and system modeling.

From the Back Cover

Designing and operating sensor networks, featuring leading researchers and the latest, yet unpublished findings

Sensor Network Operations introduces mission-oriented sensor networks as distributed dynamic systems of interacting sensing devices, which function as a network to execute complex real-time missions. Rapidly developing and much in demand, these smart systems offer novel solutions to problems arising in national security, intelligent transportation, industrial production, scientific research, and other arenas.

A comprehensive look at the current state of the science, as well as a useful toolbox for developing specific applications, Sensor Network Operations begins with the requirements presented by real-world tasks, then shows how these translate into operational algorithms and sensor applications. This logical flow points the way towards the design of practical sensor networks for dependable operations.

The coverage is presented in three parts:

• Part I, Sensor Network Operations Overview discusses the motivation and structure of the book, lays out the background on sensor platforms and mission-oriented sensor networks, and introduces important trends in sensor development.

• Part II, Sensor Network Design and Operations offers many specific algorithms for controlling sensor networks. Specific topics covered include sensor deployment, self-organization, and localization; mobility and navigation; lower-layer protocols; routing; power management; distributed sensing and data gathering; and network security.

• Part III, Sensor Network Applications presents several sensor network applications and illustrates how sensor networks may be used. These include pursuer-evader tracking in sensor networks; embedded soft sensing in mobile robotic networks; multi-sensor network-based framework for video surveillance; context-sensing wearable systems; multiple bit stream image transmission over wireless sensor networks; and noise-adaptive networks for vehicle tracking.

Sensor Network Operations offers an eminently useful introduction of this exciting, emerging field for students, as well as an essential reference for researchers and other practitioners developing, deploying, and operating sensor networks.

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