Distributed and Communication-Efficient Spatial Auto-Correlation Subsurface Imaging in Sensor Networks

A wireless seismic network can be effectively used as a tool for subsurface monitoring and imaging. By recording and analyzing ambient noise, a seismic network can image underground infrastructures and provide velocity variation information of the subsurface that can help to detect anomalies. By studying the variation in the noise cross-correlation function of the noise, it is possible to determine the subsurface seismic velocity and image underground infrastructures. Ambient noise imaging can be done in a decentralized fashion using Distributed Spatial Auto-Correlation (dSPAC). In dSPAC over sensor networks, the cross-correlation is the most intensive communication process since nodes need to communicate their data with neighbor nodes. In this paper, a new communication-reduced method for cross-correlation is presented to meet bandwidth and cost of communication constraints in networks while ambient noise imaging is performed using dSPAC method. By applying the proposed communication-reduced method, we show that energy and computational cost of the nodes is also preserved.