Maximizing Utility of Sensor-Mission Assignment with Uncertain Demands

A sensor network in the field is usually required to support multiple sensing tasks or missions to be accomplished simultaneously. Since missions might compete for the exclusive usage of the same sensing resource we need to assign individual sensors to missions. Missions are usually characterized by an uncertain demand for sensing resource capabilities. Consider for example a mission that requires video sensors to identify a target but the weather conditions and visibility range in the field are not exactly known: in this case the required number of sensors and the resolution of their cameras cannot be precisely determined. We can for example specify only the highest resolution of the cameras needed by the mission or the maximum number of video sensors required. If instead two missions require to identify two different targets that are located in nearby regions on the map, then these missions might compete for the exclusive control of a particular video sensor. Indeed the mission to which the video sensor will be assigned might decide to point the camera in a direction that could be completely opposite to where the other mission would require it.