Title: A spectral clustering approach to validating sensors via their peers in distributed sensor networks

Authors: H.T. Kung, D. Vlah

Addresses: Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. ' Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

Abstract: In a distributed sensor network, the goodness of a sensor may change according to its current device status (e.g. health of hardware) and environment (e.g. wireless reception conditions at the sensor location). As a result, it is often necessary to validate periodically sensors in the field, in order to identify those which no longer work properly and eliminate them from applications| use. In this paper, we describe a spectral clustering approach of using peer sensors to identify these bad sensors. Using a simple model problem, we describe how our sensor validation method works and demonstrate its performance in simulation.

Keywords: spectral clustering; linear algebra; optimisation; distributed sensor networks; sensor validation; peer sensors; simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSNET.2010.036195

International Journal of Sensor Networks, 2010 Vol.8 No.3/4, pp.202 - 208

Published online: 27 Oct 2010 *

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