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A Novel Technique for Performing Tiger Census in a Forest Using Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks
Nishat A. Ansari, U. A. Deshpande and Anish Kelkar

With advancement in sensor nodes’ technology and availability of wireless multimedia sensor nodes, a Wireless Multimedia Sensor Network (WMSN) is being used for habitat monitoring of animals in a forest. In this paper we propose an algorithm for performing tiger census, an important habitat monitoring activity, using WMSN. Existing methods of tiger census using camera traps are time consuming and risky since they require frequent visits of the forest officials to dense forest areas. We suggest an energy conserving network architecture suitable for tiger census. It is a cluster based architecture, in which, the cluster head avoids sending repeated information if it recognizes that the same tiger has been detected by multiple nodes. We also address the challenge of bounded memory of a sensor node in a WMSN by proposing a buffer management technique to reduce packet drop due to buffer overflow. We also propose a novel forwarding algorithm for sending census information, called as Stochastic Selection of Parent (SSP) − Census. This technique further minimizes packet drop leading to early finish of the census activity.

Keywords: Wireless multimedia sensor networks; Tiger census; Buffer management; Energy conservation; Network architecture

Full Text (IP)
DOI: 10.32908/ahswn.v55.5829