Browsing by Author "Thornton, Christopher"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Evaluation of Complex Surveillance Systems for Emergent Vulnerability
    (2010-09-08T18:38:20Z) Thornton, Christopher; Cohen, Ori; Denzinger, Jorg; Boyd, Jeffrey
    The current paradigm for testing tracking and surveillance systems is to identify representative metrics for system components, then optimize the performance of that metric against test data. The assumption is that optimization of individual components will optimize the surveillance system as a whole. However, while optimizing components is a necessary step to improve systems, it is not sufficient to address vulnerabilities that emerge in a large system with many components. A large surveillance system will have many cameras and other sensors. In some cases, to cover more area, the cameras and sensors may be mobile. Coverage is unlikely to be complete in all areas at all times, so sensor allocation will follow some policy. The combination of sensors, sensor properties, mobility and policy can result in a system that is vulnerable in ways that are difficult to predict. We present a method to model and predict emergent vulnerabilities in a complex surveillance system. To demonstrate the method, we apply it to a downscaled physical surveillance system that uses multiple stationary and mobile camera platforms to monitor and defend against intrusions. Our method finds two vulnerabilities in the system in simulation, one of which we demonstrate with the physical system.