Research Article
Anonymous Data Collection in Sensor Networks
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.1109/MOBIQ.2007.4451016, author={James Horey and Michael M. Groat and Stephanie Forrest and Fernando Esponda}, title={Anonymous Data Collection in Sensor Networks}, proceedings={4th International ICST Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems: Computing, Networking and Services}, publisher={IEEE}, proceedings_a={MOBIQUITOUS}, year={2008}, month={2}, keywords={Computer science Histograms Humans Monitoring Privacy Protection Protocols Sensor phenomena and characterization Telecommunication traffic Traffic control}, doi={10.1109/MOBIQ.2007.4451016} }- James Horey
Michael M. Groat
Stephanie Forrest
Fernando Esponda
Year: 2008
Anonymous Data Collection in Sensor Networks
MOBIQUITOUS
IEEE
DOI: 10.1109/MOBIQ.2007.4451016
Abstract
Sensor networks involving human participants will require privacy protection before wide deployment is feasible. This paper proposes and evaluates a set of protocols that enable anonymous data collection in a sensor network. Sensor nodes, instead of transmitting their actual data, transmit a sample of the data complement to a basestation. The basestation then uses the negative samples to reconstruct a histogram of the original sensor readings. These protocols, collectively defined as a negative survey, are computationally simple and do not increase communication overhead. Thus, the negative survey can be implemented efficiently on existing sensor network platforms. We analyze the accuracy of the negative survey under a variety of conditions and define a range of parameter values for which it is practical. We also describe an example traffic monitoring application that uses the negative survey to classify traffic behavior. We demonstrate that for reasonable traffic scenarios, the system accurately classifies traffic behavior without revealing private information.
