Sensor scheduling for lifetime maximization in user-centric sensor networks

We explore sensor scheduling strategies to maximize the operational lifetime of a user-centric image sensor network. Image sensors are deployed for gathering visual information over a monitored region. Users navigate within this region by specifying a time-varing desired viewpoint and the network responds with the requested visual data. By modeling the user's desired viewpoint in a probabilistic framework, we develop a stochastic formulation of the network lifetime and investigate the camera scheduling strategy that maximizes the expected value of network lifetime. By suitably abstracting the problem, we present a closed-form solution for the simplistic case when the monitored region is divided into two parts. Using asymptotic analysis, we then present a simple camera scheduling strategy for the general case that we conjecture to be optimal. Simulation results demonstrate a clear advantage of the proposed camera scheduling approach over previously considered alternatives.