An Efficient Distributed Collaborative Camera Actuation Algorithm for Redundant Data Elimination in Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks

Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs) represent an advanced extension of traditional Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) by incorporating camera sensors alongside scalar sensors. These networks face challenges such as high processing and communication costs associated with multimedia data. A primary concern is data redundancy, mainly due to overlapping Fields of View (FoV) of camera sensors, which increases communication costs in terms of bandwidth and CPU processing. To mitigate this, camera sensors should only be activated when an event is detected within their range. Scalar sensors initially detect events and notify corresponding camera sensors. This paper proposes a cost-effective distributed actuation scheme that aims to minimize the number of active cameras while ensuring sufficient event coverage. The scheme encourages cooperation among camera sensors informed by scalar sensors about events, reducing coverage overlaps and ensuring their FoVs intersect with the event region. Additionally, the paper introduces low-cost distributed actuation methods for monitoring event boundaries. Simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, comparing coverage ratio and the number of activated camera sensors across various deployment strategies.