Adaptive Sensor Registration Across Distributed Airspace Surveillance Networks
Corey A. Ippolito, Thomas Lombaerts · 2024
Distributed sensing has become an important tool for monitoring large complex environments in a wide range of applications, including environmental monitoring, structural health monitoring, and surveillance systems. To ensure the accuracy and reliability of a distributed sensing network, it is crucial to ensure that the sensors are properly registered and calibrated during operation of the network. This paper presents the concept, problems, and challenges associated with sensor registration and calibration of variably-sized and variably-structured sensor networks. The focus is on large-scale ground-based surveillance of low-altitude urban airspaces, addressing the needs of future air transportation system concepts. A general framework and formalism for this application are presented. This paper proposes an approach for the continual optimization of registration and calibration parameters using iterative optimization techniques, with initial algorithms provided. Additionally, a preliminary discussion and roadmap are presented, outlining the steps towards the evaluation and validation of this framework through simulation and flight test experimentation.