Multiple target localization in wireless visual sensor networks

Target localization is an important service in wireless visual sensor networks (WVSN). Although the problem of single target localization has been intensively studied, few consider the problem of multiple target localization without prior target information in WVSN. In this paper, we first investigate the architecture of WVSN where data transmission is reduced to only target positions. Since target matching is a key issue in the multiple target localization, we propose a statistical method to match corresponding targets to located targets in world coordinates. In addition, we also consider scenarios where occlusion or limited field of view (FOV) occurs. The proposed method utilizes target images to the greatest extent. Our experimental results show that the proposed method obtains a more accurate result in targets localization compared with the camera discard scheme, and saves significant amounts of energy compared with other feature matching schemes.