Revealing the mobile sensing powers of semi-random and deterministic “drive-by” vehicle fleets

The utilization of mobile sensing through the deployment of sensors on third-party vehicles that pass by an area offers notable benefits in terms of spatiotemporal coverage, precision, timeliness, and cost-effectiveness for monitoring urban environments. However, the diverse travel behaviors exhibited by different types of vehicle fleets result in varying levels of sensing powers. Drawing inspiration from these phenomena, this study quantifies and compares the travel patterns and sensing powers of bus and taxi fleets. The experimental findings unveiled several noteworthy laws, such as a diminishing rate of increase in sensing power with the stable increasing vehicle number, the high sensing power exhibited by taxis, the comparable spatial coverage between buses, and the relatively low uncertainty associated with buses' sensing power. Furthermore, the impact of travel patterns (i.e., semi-random behavior of taxis and deterministic behavior of buses) on the powers of mobile sensing was revealed. The aforementioned findings provide valuable insights for the development of efficient mobile sensing schemes and hold significant relevance for the implementation of smart city infrastructure.