Hybrid sensor networks comprise of mobile and static sensor nodes setup for the purpose of collaboratively performing tasks like sensing a phenomenon or monitoring a region. In this paper, we present a novel approach for navigating a mobile sensor node (MSN) through such a hybrid sensor network. The static sensor nodes in the sensor network guide the MSN to the phenomenon. One or more MSN’s are selected based on their proximity to the detected phenomenon. Navigation is accomplished using the concepts of credit based field setup and navigation force from static sensor nodes. Our approach does not require any prior maps of the environment thus, cutting down the cost of the overall system. The simulation results have verified the effectiveness of the proposed approach. In each of the simulation runs, the static sensor nodes were able to successfully guide the MSN towards the phenomenon.

Safety of road travel can be increased if vehicles can be made to form groups for mutual interaction with each other. With the number of sensors available on vehicles increasing, a need has arisen to make collaborative use of the information collected by individual vehicles to form an enhanced dataset to improve the inter-vehicular safety features. This paper presents a novel approach to increase the safety of road travel using the concept of wireless sensor networks. We discuss how a group of vehicles can form a mobile ad hoc network and exchange data sensed by the on-board sensors. The fusion of these data could give a better understanding of the surrounding traffic conditions. As the simulation results show, this would definitely increase the traveling safety on the road.