Collaborative Surveillance using Both Fixed and Mobile Unattended Sensor Platforms

We begin by considering current shortfalls with conventional surveillance systems and discuss the potential advantages of distributed, collaborative surveillance systems. Distributed surveillance systems o er the capability to monitor activity from multiple locations over time thereby increasing the likelihood of obtaining discriminating data necessary for interpretation of the activity. Yet the multiplicity of sensors magni es the volumes of data that must be processed. We present our vision of a system which generates timely interpretations of activities in the scene automatically through the use of mechanisms for collaboration among sensing systems and e cient perception methods which complement the sensing paradigm. Then we review our recent e orts toward achieving this goal and present initial results.