Summary form only given. We discuss a novel framework for integrated sensing and resource management in a distributed intelligent sensor network with sensor nodes whose useful active lifetime is significantly shorter than the required lifetime of the sensor system. Past sensor network research has focused on security and communication; but largely ignored the overall dynamic resource management issue of such distributed systems. Our contribution is in integrated control optimization and resource management algorithms to ensure proper functioning of distributed sensors in extremely limited bandwidth, power, and storage. In this paper, we present a novel genetic algorithm for real-time system control and resource management that handles multiple conflicting objectives and constraints in the distributed system. Our framework is suitable for dynamic environments where the desired system performance and resource usage changes dynamically while being constrained by limited amount of resources.