Title: Fault perturbations in building sensor network data streams

Authors: Michael W. Bigrigg, H. Scott Matthews, James H. Garrett Jr.

Addresses: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15213, USA. ' Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15213, USA. ' Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15213, USA

Abstract: The Critter temperature sensor device has been developed to understand the full nature of pervasive sensor networks. Off the shelf integrated sensor devices incorporate some amount of adaptation to make the devices more reliable. The Critter provides raw instantaneous readings including outlier data that may be considered anomalies or perturbations. We have deployed Critter data sensors pervasively through one academic building for almost 18 months. This paper explores the causes of temperature data perturbations, defined as two temperature data readings taken within seconds of each other that differ by several degrees. Temperature sensor data perturbations are actually the effects of user activity within buildings. By capturing the raw data without automatic processing, we are able to show a correlation between time of the work day and the frequency of data perturbation.

Keywords: sensor networks; sensor data; anomalies; replicas; missing data; infrastructure management; fault perturbations; data streams; temperature sensors; data perturbation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSNET.2010.033117

International Journal of Sensor Networks, 2010 Vol.7 No.3, pp.152 - 161

Published online: 08 May 2010 *

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