REPORT 1

FRANCIS MOKOGWU (201898518)

Paper 1 title: An Efficient WSN Based Solution for Border Surveillance
The report will be divided into four sections:
A. SUMMARY OF PAPER’S CONTRIBUTION AND NOVELTY: Wireless sensor networks apply to
almost every sector of human existence; banking, health care, industry, border
control/surveillance etc. The application of WSN in this paper is border surveillance. This
deals with the control of intrusion at international borders. The technology discussed in this
paper was designed for deployment to the Algerian borders; which happens to be the
largest country in Africa by landmass. Several WSN technologies have been developed in
the past but they fall short of the requirements needed by the case study (Algeria). The key
requirements put into consideration in this paper include energy efficiency, load balancing
and redundancy management. To achieve this, the authors proposed a multilayer hybrid
architecture based on multidirectional cameras, scalar sensors (UGSs), radars and UAVs.
The motive is to detect and track intrusion automatically, at the same time reducing human
involvement greatly and improving reliability. In comparison with earlier WSN technologies
for border surveillance, the proposed technology performs satisfactorily. It is basically, a
concatenation of three specialized layers, namely; the detection layer- this comprises of
scalar sensors and radars for intrusion detection, the visualization/identification layer- this
consists of multidirectional cameras for identification of intrusion and UAVs for tracking of
intrusion, the decision-making layer- this comprises of a human operator and specific
equipment to process and display information for monitoring and control purposes. These
layers are interconnected via wireless networks and optical fibre cable for seamless data
transmission. The novelty in this paper could be identified in the choice of scalar sensors
utilized. They are cheap and energy-efficient. Another novelty identified is the
incorporation of UAVs, which have reduced human involvement in intrusion tracking,
especially in inaccessible areas like the desert areas on Algerian borders in context. Also,
the use of radars and cameras substitutes the need for satellite imaging, as these improve
the accuracy of visualization and reduce latency. The highlight of this topology in my
opinion is the planned redundancy of the sensors, cameras and UAVs. There is always a
backup in the case of a failure of any device
B. WEAKNESSES OF RESULTS (CRITIQUE): The proposed technology in comparison to earlier
designed WSN technologies is considered optimal. However, some snags could impair the
efficiency of the proposed technology. I found out that almost all the devices incorporated
in the design run on battery. This does not make them energy efficient, because these
batteries run down. Charging them often will reduce the life cycle of the batteries.
Therefore, I am proposing the integration of Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) and a charging
control mechanism. Algeria has a lot of sunshine; hence the PSCs will be very useful and the
solar cells are small, unlike the traditional silicon solar panels. This will enhance the energy
efficiency of the system. The wireless standards proposed for the UGSs- 802.15.4 is not
 appropriate. It is indeed a low power standard but its data rate is small. A higher Wi-Fi
standard is encouraged, to yield better data rates. In the control centre (the decision-
making layer), there should be full automation of control for camera switching and radar
communication. Hence it is pertinent that during the design, well-defined machine learning
algorithms be used to set up the run the control centre. The human operator should be
there just to monitor the process. This will enhance the accuracy of the system.
C. STRENGTHS OF THE PROPOSED APPROACH: The obvious merit of the proposed technology
is the reduction of human involvement. This is very important considering the region of
deployment of the technology. Algerian has a large land border with six (6) countries, and
the majority of the landmass is along the Sahara Desert. This makes it difficult for active
human participation in border control. The results from the simulation depict how
proficient technology is when compared to others. It has greatly reduced the camera
response time thereby improving the visualization and identification efficiency. Border
surveillance is very critical to the safety of a country; hence, real-time sensing is solicited.
D. FUTURE WORKS: As I had earlier mentioned in the critique section, the following should be
looked into in future research works. The integration of better energy management, the
replacement of the wireless standard used (802.15.4), full automation of the control centre,
creation of interconnection redundancy. Achieving energy efficiency is a challenge that has
to be addressed. Also, the region of deployment of this technology is a favourable one to
implement the use of Perovskite Solar cells (PSCs). This will be easy to implement due to
the structure of PSCs and their qualities. The bodies of the devices in the proposed topology
can be made of the PSCs and a charge control mechanism integrated to enhance proper
energy management and longer battery life. The incorporation of wireless standards of
higher data rates should be considered for this design. 4G and 5G mobile networks can also
be used. This will enhance data transmission and real-time sensing. Thereby eliminating the
tradeoff between energy efficiency and data transmission. Humans can be prone to errors;
a human operator could sleep off on duty. Hence, it is important to further reduce human
involvement in the control centre to observation only. During the set-up of the technology,
test data could be taken to ascertain legal and illegal intrusion. The use of artificial
intelligence in the control centre is highly solicited. The test data could be trained to detect
intrusion and carry out the reporting function. With this, errors will be reduced and near-
perfect sensing achieved. Concerning redundancy of interconnections, the connection
between the radar and the control centre being just a single optical fibre route could be
protected by adopting an additional transmission path to create redundancy in the event of
fibre cuts or degradation.
Paper 2 title: Hybrid Internet of Things Network for Energy Efficient Video Surveillance
A. SUMMARY OF PAPER’S CONTRIBUTION AND NOVELTY: The summary of the paper’s
novelty is energy efficiency as obviously highlighted in the topic. The existing designs
discussed in the “related works” section of the paper brings to fore the deficiency of
technology, thereby making the proposed technology in this paper highly desirable. Energy
efficiency is devices and systems are salient and as such, there is ubiquitous research in this
regard. Given the objective of improving energy efficiency, the author adopted certain low
power equipment and standards such as the incorporation of LoRa; which is a type of Low
Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN)- a wireless network technology that offers a unique set
of futures in fulfilling the communication requirements of IoT application. Low power
pyroelectric infra-red sensors were used for motion detection at the perimeter. They
generate their energy for sensing; hence the energy of the entire system is conserved. From
the description of the network, it is obvious that the authors adopted a mesh topology for
transmission protection and optimized the performance of the network. Also, the
application of the Kalman filter- a statistical tool used for optimal estimation of variables
that cannot be measured directly, made the proposed technology unique. This helps the
visual nodes (cameras) to track intrusion with ideal precision.
B. WEAKNESSES OF RESULTS (CRITIQUE): There are several weaknesses present in this paper.
They range from inconclusive statements, inappropriate use of techniques and some
oversights. The authors repeatedly mentioned switching of visual nodes (cameras) without
indicating the switching time. This becomes indispensable especially if the proposed
technology is going to be implemented in an area a military barrack, an embassy, a
presidential palace etc. where constant surveillance is required. Also, after the purported
sensing and tracking by the system, there is no reporting activity. After sensing and tracking
the intruder, then what? The information from the results depicts linear (straight line) and
slow-motion of the intruder, there is no idea of the performance of the system to a fast-
moving intruder. There were numerous repetitions of LoRa and its application in this paper,
making it verbose.
C. STRENGTHS OF THE PROPOSED APPROACH: The evident strength of the proposed
approach and result is energy efficiency. The results show that there is a 97.44%
conservation of the total energy consumed in comparison with the other approaches with
their sensors in constant ON mode. This greatly improves energy efficiency. Also, the
integration of the Kalman filter algorithm presented a near-perfect prediction of intrusion
location.
D. FUTURE WORKS: This paper provides a good background for future research. In the event
of precise intrusion sensing and tracking by the proposed approach, there should be an
appropriate reporting of this event. After the tracking, the system should report the event
and appropriate measures taken. This means there should a bit of human involvement as
machines cannot conclusively tackle the issue. So, this provides an avenue for future
 research, and I hope to integrate it into my project for the course. Also, there should be a
set of algorithms constituting an AI system that indicates the type of intrusion. The
complete profile of the intruder should be provided by future research propositions. This
will help differentiate the intrusion from human/non-human and harmful/harmless. Most
importantly, concerning energy conservation, future research should look into
incorporating Perovskite solar cells into devices. This is the way to go for IoT devices and
systems. PSCs are small and can be easily integrated into devices to provide energy.

REFERENCES
[1] M. L. Laouira, A. Abdelli, J. Ben Othman, and H. Kim, “An efficient WSN based solution for
border surveillance,” IEEE Trans. Sustain. Comput., no. March, pp. 1–1, 2019, doi:
10.1109/tsusc.2019.2904855.
[2] E. DIlla DIratie and K. Al Agha, “Hybrid Internet of Things Network for Energy Efficient Video
Surveillance,” IEEE World Forum Internet Things, WF-IoT 2020 - Symp. Proc., pp. 1–6, 2020,
doi: 10.1109/WF-IoT48130.2020.9221241.