Coordinate-free distributed coverage verification and intruder detection in dynamic sensor networks

In this paper, we present a distributed method for intruder-free coverage verification in a bounded domaieo Coverage is provided by the means of a dynamic network of sensors, which individually cover finite range disks, exchange information with other sensors in their vicinity and may switch on and off depending on their power constraints. We assume that the sensors have no means of measuring distance, orientation, or location. At each time step, we capture the topology of the network by a simplicial complex which is locally stored by the sensors and is compared to the network realization at the next time step. The machinery of the combinatorial Laplacians is used to achieve the verification goal in a decentralized fashion. Given a switching sequence of the network, the algorithm verifies whether an intruder moving in the domain of interest can be detected by the sensors, regardless of his escape strategy.