Electromagnetic sources localization problem for indoor surveillance through opportunistic sensors

The future pervasive internet will be an extremely complex environment, where communication and sensing functions will be integrated exploiting a multitude of complementary enabling technologies operating for different purposes. These include target detection, classification, identification, false alarm mitigation, tracking, and precise localization. Unlike cameras, one notable advantage of these technologies is their effectiveness under varying lighting conditions and even in smoky environments, while maintaining privacy. Notably, current progress in electronics and digitalization allows for the creation of highly efficient sensors that are inexpensive, low-power and compact. A critical challenge lies in developing precise mathematical models to describe how electromagnetic waves propagate and scatter in complex environments and how sensors interact with each other as well as with their surroundings. These models lay the groundwork for advanced data processing methods that yield accurate and reliable results, reducing issues like missed detections, false alarms, noise and clutter/multipath effects. This is especially important in complex scenarios like indoor environments, where unconventional observation methods may be utilized.