A simulation-optimization methodology for sensor placement

Sensor placement is an important problem in a number of applications. The particular sensors considered in this paper, superheterodyne surveillance receivers, form the basis for location-finding activities in the military, law enforcement, ecology, and many field-oriented sciences. The correct placement of this type of sensor is difficult because of the complex interactions involving weather, terrain, target emitter characteristics, and the requirement to network the sensors. All of these factors necessitate an approach to placement that is flexible and adaptive to experimental results derived from simulations. We present an approach that has worked for a wide variety of sensor placement problems. This approach can provide answers not only to the particular sensor placement scenario under study, it can also show the most important variables for the problem and give guidelines for generalizing the solutions.