Development of Guidelines for Optimal Selection and Deployment of Intrusion Detection Sensors

The following two questions must be considered by potential users of intrusion detection sensors: 1) Which particular sensor or suite of sensors is best suited for my specific security mission? 2) What is the proper way to deploy my selected sensors to achieve optimum detection performance? These decisions are complicated by the continuing proliferation of commercially-available sensors and the corresponding lack of reliable, comprehensive, multienvironment sensor performance data. Because of the complexity of these questions, potential users oftentimes simply choose not to use sensors at all or make poor choices which result in long-term unsatisfactory sensor performance. Past and ongoing research studies conducted by the Waterways Experiment Station (WES) have focused on characterizing the detection performance of intrusion detection sensors in varied environmental conditions, terrain types and deployment configurations. Performance characterization has been accomplished through a combination of controlled field testing and theoretical modeling. This paper describes how results of research studies have been used to develop user guidelines for sensor selection and deployment. The following three examples are discussed in detail: 1) Selection and deployment of relocatable sensors for high-security airfield applications. 2) Deployment of unattended ground sensors for tactical security applications. 3) Deployment of leaky coaxial cable sensors (LCCS) for high-security fixed-site applications.