A New Approach to Architecture of Sensor Networks for Mission-Oriented Applications

In this paper, a novel mission-oriented sensor network architecture for military applications is proposed involving multiple sensing missions with varying quality of information (QoI) requirements. A new concept of mission QoI satisfaction index indicating the degree of satisfaction for any mission in the network is introduced. Furthermore, the 5WH (why, when, where, what, who, how) principle on the operational context of information is extended to capture the changes of QoI satisfaction indexes for mission admission and completion. These allow modeling the whole network as a “black box”. With system inputs including the QoI requirements of the existing and newly arriving missions and output the QoI satisfaction index, the new concept of sensor network capacity is introduced and mathematically described. The QoI-centric sensor network capacity is a key element of the proposed architecture and aids controlling of admission of newly arriving missions in accordance with the QoI needs of all (existing and newly admitted missions). Finally, the proposed architecture and its key design parameters are illustrated through an example of a sensor network deployed for detecting the presence of a hazardous, chemical material.