Real-Time Object Tracking

Project definition

Distributed wireless sensor networks (WSN) have been proposed for a wide range of applications. The main purpose of sensor networks is to monitor an area, including detecting, identifying, localizing, and tracking one or more objects of interest.

The aim of the thesis is to design and implement a wireless sensor network for object tracking under real-time constraints, using time division media access (TDMA). The application will be implemented in TinyOS operating system with ZigBee technology.

The objectives:

- Collecting the data from the WSN to the main station

- Design and implement TDMA algorithm in the WSN

- Ensure real-time communication

- Interpret the data for object tracking

Tasks

The following milestones are set to meet the requirements of the thesis.

TDMA algorithm is implemented by the rules following this article: TDMA.pdf

1. Implement the complete TDMA algorithm on the TMote Sky WSN including
- Automatic slot division when new node joins the neighborhood. (Implemented)
- Dynamic change of frame length when more than enough nodes joins its contention area. (Almost done)
- Release of slot when a node leaves the neighborhood (To be implemented)
- Time synchronization of the nodes (Implemented)

2. Implement light sensor for the object (light) tracking. Algorithm is to be discussed for this. The implementation
will include only for the object within its neighbourhood.

3. Track the object using the light sensors on the spread out nodes. (Schedule to be tested on week 19).

Resources

Temperature reading application

Documents

TmoteSky Linux install on PowerPC (PPC)/Ubuntu Edgy (6.10)