Achieving Small World Properties using Bio-Inspired Techniques in Wireless Networks

It is highly desirable and challenging for a wireless ad hoc network to have self-organization properties in order to achieve network wide characteristics. Studies have shown that Small World properties, primarily low average path length and high clustering coefficient, are desired properties for networks in general. However, due to the spatial nature of the wireless networks, achieving small world properties remains highly challenging. Studies also show that, wireless ad hoc networks with small world properties show a degree distribution that lies between geometric and power law. In this paper, we show that in a wireless ad hoc network with non-uniform node density with only local information, we can significantly reduce the average path length and retain the clustering coefficient. To achieve our goal, our algorithm first identifies logical regions using Lateral Inhibition technique, then identifies the nodes that beamform and finally the beam properties using Flocking. We use Lateral Inhibition and Flocking because they enable us to use local state information as opposed to other techniques. We support our work with simulation results and analysis, which show that a reduction of up to 40% can be achieved for a high-density network. We also show the effect of hopcount used to create regions on average path length, clustering coefficient and connectivity.Comment: Accepted for publication: Special Issue on Security and Performance of Networks and Clouds (The Computer Journal

GPS-Free Localization Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks

Localization is one of the most fundamental problems in wireless sensor networks, since the locations of the sensor nodes are critical to both network operations and most application level tasks. A GPS-free localization scheme for wireless sensor networks is presented in this paper. First, we develop a standardized clustering-based approach for the local coordinate system formation wherein a multiplication factor is introduced to regulate the number of master and slave nodes and the degree of connectivity among master nodes. Second, using homogeneous coordinates, we derive a transformation matrix between two Cartesian coordinate systems to efficiently merge them into a global coordinate system and effectively overcome the flip ambiguity problem. The algorithm operates asynchronously without a centralized controller; and does not require that the location of the sensors be known a priori. A set of parameter-setting guidelines for the proposed algorithm is derived based on a probability model and the energy requirements are also investigated. A simulation analysis on a specific numerical example is conducted to validate the mathematical analytical results. We also compare the performance of the proposed algorithm under a variety multiplication factor, node density and node communication radius scenario. Experiments show that our algorithm outperforms existing mechanisms in terms of accuracy and convergence time

Self-Synchronization in Duty-cycled Internet of Things (IoT) Applications

In recent years, the networks of low-power devices have gained popularity. Typically these devices are wireless and interact to form large networks such as the Machine to Machine (M2M) networks, Internet of Things (IoT), Wearable Computing, and Wireless Sensor Networks. The collaboration among these devices is a key to achieving the full potential of these networks. A major problem in this field is to guarantee robust communication between elements while keeping the whole network energy efficient. In this paper, we introduce an extended and improved emergent broadcast slot (EBS) scheme, which facilitates collaboration for robust communication and is energy efficient. In the EBS, nodes communication unit remains in sleeping mode and are awake just to communicate. The EBS scheme is fully decentralized, that is, nodes coordinate their wake-up window in partially overlapped manner within each duty-cycle to avoid message collisions. We show the theoretical convergence behavior of the scheme, which is confirmed through real test-bed experimentation.Comment: 12 Pages, 11 Figures, Journa

Robust Localization from Incomplete Local Information

We consider the problem of localizing wireless devices in an ad-hoc network embedded in a d-dimensional Euclidean space. Obtaining a good estimation of where wireless devices are located is crucial in wireless network applications including environment monitoring, geographic routing and topology control. When the positions of the devices are unknown and only local distance information is given, we need to infer the positions from these local distance measurements. This problem is particularly challenging when we only have access to measurements that have limited accuracy and are incomplete. We consider the extreme case of this limitation on the available information, namely only the connectivity information is available, i.e., we only know whether a pair of nodes is within a fixed detection range of each other or not, and no information is known about how far apart they are. Further, to account for detection failures, we assume that even if a pair of devices is within the detection range, it fails to detect the presence of one another with some probability and this probability of failure depends on how far apart those devices are. Given this limited information, we investigate the performance of a centralized positioning algorithm MDS-MAP introduced by Shang et al., and a distributed positioning algorithm, introduced by Savarese et al., called HOP-TERRAIN. In particular, for a network consisting of n devices positioned randomly, we provide a bound on the resulting error for both algorithms. We show that the error is bounded, decreasing at a rate that is proportional to R/Rc, where Rc is the critical detection range when the resulting random network starts to be connected, and R is the detection range of each device.Comment: 40 pages, 13 figure

Clustering Algorithms for Scale-free Networks and Applications to Cloud Resource Management

In this paper we introduce algorithms for the construction of scale-free networks and for clustering around the nerve centers, nodes with a high connectivity in a scale-free networks. We argue that such overlay networks could support self-organization in a complex system like a cloud computing infrastructure and allow the implementation of optimal resource management policies.Comment: 14 pages, 8 Figurs, Journa

Adoption of vehicular ad hoc networking protocols by networked robots

This paper focuses on the utilization of wireless networking in the robotics domain. Many researchers have already equipped their robots with wireless communication capabilities, stimulated by the observation that multi-robot systems tend to have several advantages over their single-robot counterparts. Typically, this integration of wireless communication is tackled in a quite pragmatic manner, only a few authors presented novel Robotic Ad Hoc Network (RANET) protocols that were designed specifically with robotic use cases in mind. This is in sharp contrast with the domain of vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET). This observation is the starting point of this paper. If the results of previous efforts focusing on VANET protocols could be reused in the RANET domain, this could lead to rapid progress in the field of networked robots. To investigate this possibility, this paper provides a thorough overview of the related work in the domain of robotic and vehicular ad hoc networks. Based on this information, an exhaustive list of requirements is defined for both types. It is concluded that the most significant difference lies in the fact that VANET protocols are oriented towards low throughput messaging, while RANET protocols have to support high throughput media streaming as well. Although not always with equal importance, all other defined requirements are valid for both protocols. This leads to the conclusion that cross-fertilization between them is an appealing approach for future RANET research. To support such developments, this paper concludes with the definition of an appropriate working plan