A team-based multitask data acquisition scheme under time constraints in mobile crowd sensing

Mobile Crowd Sensing (MCS) typically assigns sensing tasks in the same target area to many participants considering data quality and the diversity of sensing devices. However, participant selection is based on the individual in many research. The efficiency of individual recruitment is low. Individuals need higher transportation costs to go to the task location alone, and the data quality perceived by individuals is difficult to guarantee. This paper proposes a team-based multitask data acquisition scheme under time constraints to address these challenges. The scheme optimised the number of participants, traffic cost, and data quality and designed four team-based multitask allocation algorithms under time constraints in the MCS: T-RandomTeam, T-MostTeam, T-RandomMITeam, and T-MostMITeam. The team size is associated with the number of participants required for the first task or the vehicle capacity to perform the task. We conducted extensive experiments based on a real large-scale dataset to evaluate the four algorithms' performances compared to two baseline algorithms (T-Random and T-most). The efficiency of the four algorithms has been significantly improved by team recruitment. The transportation cost can be multiplicatively reduced by carpooling. Data quality can be improved by at least 2% through reputation screening and team members' communication.