ABSTRACT
In 1999, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) established the Sensor Information Technology (SensIT) program to investigate the feasibility of employing thousands of autonomous, distributed, networked, multi-modal ground sensors to accomplish intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) tasks. A large group of Principal Investigators was challenged to develop innovative hardware, algorithms and so¯ware to demonstrate the potential of distributed micro sensor networks. Ÿese investigators collaborated, with BBN Technologies as the system architect and integrator, to develop and demonstrate a system of distributed, networked sensor nodes with in-network data processing, target detection, classi¢cation, and tracking, and communication within and outside of the network. Ÿe SensIT architecture and SensIT So¯ware system (SenSo¯) described in this chapter are the results of this collaboration. Ÿis prototype distributed sensor network, and the research accomplished by the contributors in the process of achieving the prototype, represent a ¢rm foundation for further development of and experimentation with information technology for distributed sensor systems.
