find the best candidates to perform a data collection campaign

In traditional sensor systems, one of the fundamental problems concerns the placement of sensors. The analogous problem in participatory sensing is choosing users to perform a particular data collection task. We are creating PICK, a framework that is designed to help with this process. Specifically, the framework considers a multi-part profile, which includes information about the capabilities, participation and performance, availability, and commitment, for a potential participant for the recruitment process. Capability information captures relevant characteristics of the cell phone carried by that individual, such as the set of sensing modalities and their quality. Availability information would indicate when and where the user is likely able to gather and contribute data. This would include models of user’s mobility and activity in space and time, as well as constraints due to privacy rules. Performance and participation information would indicate how this individual performed on previous sensing campaigns, in terms of metrics such as quality and timeliness of contributed data, consistency relative to their commitments, and responsiveness to data collection requests. Commitment weights each of these relative to the negotiation made with the participant for each campaign. A Recruitment Engine would exist that takes campaign specifications as input and recommends potential participants.  Furthermore, a Campaign Watchdog would run throughout campaigns to update participant profiles to enable adaptive recruitment as a campaign progresses.