SURVEILLANCE NETWORK SYSTEM

• US 20120084839A1
• Filed: 09/01/2011
• Published: 04/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Ayyagari, Arun, Blair, Rick, Foster, Michael S., Ung, Kevin Y., Corman, Daivd E.
• Granted Patent: US 10,542,093 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/30 for proactive routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

Embodiments of a sensor network system provide surveillance capabilities in multiple contexts/environments (e.g., military, commercial, scientific, civic, urban, wilderness, etc.). Network nodes may include devices such as sensors, network routers, network controllers, etc. Network sensors may be configured so that power management objectives are maximized. Network sensors (both individually and as a group) may be capable of intelligent and cooperative information gathering, so that the output of the sensor network does not contain high levels of irrelevant information. The network nodes may communicate among one another via one or more communication links, and in some cases, multiple routes between any two network nodes may be available. The sensor network may include aspects of both high data rate and low data rate network features. One or more network controllers may provide various network management capabilities, including management of network routing, information collection, information exportation, network configuration, etc.

Claims

1-25. -25. (canceled)

26. A surveillance network comprising:

a controller;

a plurality of sensors being capable of communicating with the controller, each of the plurality of sensors being capable of collecting information from its environment and sending the collected information to the controller;

the controller being responsive to the communication from each of the plurality of sensors to authenticate a given sensor and compare its collected information to the collected information from a set of sensors located in the vicinity of the given sensor.

27. The surveillance network of claim 26 wherein the controller further accepts the collected information if the collected information is in a given tolerances range of the information collected from the set of sensors located in the vicinity of the given sensor and rejects the collected information if the collected information is substantially outside of a tolerance range of the information collected from the set of sensors located in the vicinity of the sensor.

28. The surveillance network of claim 26 wherein the controller further disconnects the communication link to the given sensor if the collected information is substantially outside of a tolerance range of the information collected from the set of sensors located in the vicinity of the sensor.

29. The surveillance network of claim 26 wherein the controller further disconnects the communication link to the given sensor if the collected information is substantially outside of a tolerance range of the information collected from the set of sensors located in the vicinity of the sensor.

30. The surveillance network of claim 26 wherein the controller further disconnects the communication link to the given sensor if the collected information is substantially outside of a tolerance range of the information collected from the set of sensors located in the vicinity of the sensor.

31. The surveillance network of claim 26 wherein the set of sensors is from the plurality of sensors.

32. The surveillance network of claim 26, wherein the controller authenticates the given sensor based on its RF signature.

33. The surveillance network of claim 26 wherein the controller authenticates the given sensor based on its security key.

34. The surveillance network of claim 33 wherein the security pin is field programmed.

35. The surveillance network of claim 26 wherein the controller authenticates each sensor based on its RF signature and security key.

36. The surveillance network of claim 33 wherein the security pin is field programmed.

37. A surveillance method comprising:

collecting information from one or more network nodes within an environment, the collected information relating to a given factor or set of factors;

comparing the collected information to information received from at least two other network nodes in the same environment, wherein the at least two other network nodes are responsible for collecting information that relates to the given factor or set of factors;

accepting the collected information if a variance range between the collected information and the information received from the at least one other network node satisfies a specified threshold; and

rejecting the collected information if the variance range between the collected information and the information received from the at least one other network node does not satisfy a specified threshold.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein the one or more network nodes include multiple sensors operating in at least partial cooperation.

39. The method of claim 37 wherein the one or more network nodes include at least one primary sensor, wherein the at least one primary sensor is configured to sense a designated stimulus and send an activation signal to at least one secondary sensor in its vicinity based on sensing the designated stimulus.

40-77. -77. (canceled)