Search

For many wireless ad-hoc network (WANET) applications, including wireless sensor, robotic, and flying ad-hoc networks, area coverage is a major challenge. This challenge, which may include the number of required nodes, cumulative energy consumption, or total distance travelled, involves covering the largest possible area with the least cost. Whatever the scenario and cost functions, efficiently deploying the nodes throughout their entire missions is an important factor. For larger networks, this can best be performed using proper topology formations that are essentially designated geometric graph patterns. As a network topology formation and node deployment strategy, this study presents a unique tree-formed geometric graph pattern. With any given number of nodes, it guarantees the maximum possible combined area coverage. Considering its graph theory and Euclidean characteristics, the pattern is then described as both algebraic and algorithmic relations. The formation is remarkably scalable because it may include an unlimited number of nodes while ensuring connectivity in a tree topology. In addition to presenting a breakdown of multiple features and attributes, including symmetry and fractality, we will make a comparative analysis with six known regular lattices and a line formation. Our analyses then show that MAX-Tree covers up to twice as much area compared to all other regular lattices of the same node cardinalities while being more robust and reliable than a line formation. MAX-Tree can be extremely beneficial for drone networks, smart industry and agriculture applications, ocean-bed monitoring systems, and many other WANET scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Space today has considerable surge in distributed network of small satellites to meet the imperative demand of both commercial and scientific applications (Selva and Krejci in Acta Astronaut 74:50–68, 2012). As the complexity of the design and launch of large satellites is high , the need of distributed networking is gaining lot of interest in space domain as well. Thus single large satellite is replaced by many, small satellite that collaboratively work to perform the same functionality of single large satellite forming Space Based Wireless Sensor Network (SBWSN). The SBWSN are dynamically decoupled network as each satellite, orbits in its own path and the positioned with considerable distance between them. Stability of network with respect to formation flying to accomplish the task by collaboration is quite essential. In this paper, we develop the stability criteria in small satellite network using graph theory, covariant derivatives and linear algebra to ensure distributed processing and communication, required to accomplish the mission task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The satellite network is one of the major source of information and these days small satellites are gaining lot of focus. The group of small satellites form a distributed network that work collaboratively to accomplish the mission task. These networks are very similar to the terrestrial wireless sensor network in terms of restricted resources and constrained capabilities. Sometimes, network of small satellites is also called as space based wireless sensor network (SBWSN). In any distributed network, topology formation and its control plays a significant role. This is true for SBWSN also. The topology in SBWSN decides the area of coverage (field of view), time of coverage, data gathered and data transmitted to ground station. The proposed topology is a distributed network of small satellites formed by trivalent, toroidal and spherical polyhedron graph forming a fullerene, which is called as polygon based network topology (PBNT). It comprises of both pentagonal (Fp) and hexagonal (Fh) faces with K regular graphs such that K ≥ 3 with genus equal to 1. It also satisfies Eulers formula with n vertices. The fullerene comprises of simple rings and each of this ring forms the cluster. Each cluster is further represented as a triangular grid, that is linearly convex or non-linear, with K-connected graph along with Hamiltonian extendible cycle. The nodes/satellites on the triangular grid represent sensing nodes (low capability nodes/satellites), while the vertices of the ring are sink nodes (higher capability nodes/satellites). In this work, the topology is formed by small satellites (pico or nano satellites). In the proposed topology formation, the network is considered as virtual network with logical neighbours forming the cluster. Each node in the cluster covers a particular swath for a particular time interval based on the mission payload and on the p3 tiling. In the simulation, we consider n small satellites being placed in low earth orbit (LEO), (where n ranges from 3 to 150). The performance enhancements are seen during simulation in the following parameters, (1) Coverage Area: The coverage area increases as multiple satellites have different field of view at different times. (2) Reduces Gaps:The proposed distributed network also minimises uncovered areas as multiple satellites cover the target location at different time stamp which is not possible by a single large satellite. (3) Increase in Data Throughput: Each satellite in the network transmits data, when it is at perigee. The data throughput of the network increases, as data is transmitted by multiple satellites. Therefore, the throughput is increased by n-fold. (4) Continuous Connectivity: The data captured by one satellite in the network is made available to other using multi-hop communication. Thus the proposed topology also increases the continuous connectivity between satellites and also with the ground station. (5) Increases lifetime and Network Reliability: The SBWSN accomplishes its mission task even when one/more satellites encounters functional failure. The satellites in the network can reconfigure themselves and continue the mission task. Thus SBWSN also reduces the risk of mission failure and ensures mission reliability. Due to reconfiguration the lifetime of the network is also increased. The proposed topology is used for small satellites (specially nano and pico satellites) network, which permit the single board satellite weighing less than 10 kg (Pico satellite less than 1 kg and nano satellites less than 10 kg). The advantage of these small satellites network over single large satellite is low cost and reduced development time, as it uses commercially of the shelf (COTS) components. In this paper, we propose network architecture formed by the spherically embedded clusters formed by polyhedron. The vertices of polyhedron have both pentagonal (Fp) and hexagonal (Fh) faces with K regular graphs such that K ≥ 3, with genus equal to 1. The vertices of these polyhedron form the sink nodes and the other nodes are sensing nodes. Here satellites and nodes are interchangeably used. Sensing nodes are used for data gathering (pico/nano), while sink nodes are higher capability nodes which perform computational extensive operations in the network (nano or macro satellites). The sensing and sink nodes transmit data to the ground station when they are at perigee. The main objective of the proposed work is, technology demonstration of low cost, distributed small satellites network for earth observations replacing single huge satellite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distributed mobile robotic network consists of a group of mobile nodes, such as mobile sensors, unmanned vehicles, unmanned submarines, unmanned air vehicles, or mobile robots. The mobile robotic network keeping a regular topology can utilize efficient network protocols and is also promising in many application scenarios. We propose a distributed algorithm that controls multiple distributed robotic nodes to form regular topology, including straight line, ring, triangular lattice, and square lattice. Our algorithm generates artificial forces, including the attractive force towards a reference point to gather the distributed nodes, the repulsive force from neighboring nodes to keep the desirable distance among them, the formation force to form a specific shape, and the obstacle avoidance force to avoid possible obstacles, such that each node simply follows the resultant force to move. The algorithm works in a fully distributed manner, converges fast, and is easy to deploy, requiring only one-hop local network geometry information. And, it is effective under both 2D and 3D scenarios. A computer demo is developed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm for large numbers of robotic nodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topology control is one of the important techniques in wireless multi-hop networks to preserve connectivity and extend the network lifetime. This is more significant in ZigBee, since the address assignment scheme is tightly coupled with topology construction. For example, there can be orphan nodes that cannot receive the network address and isolated from the network due to predefined network configurations. In this paper, we propose a distributed topology construction algorithm that controls the association time of each node in order to solve the orphan node problem in ZigBee as well as construct an efficient routing tree topology. The main idea of the distributed topology construction algorithm is to construct primary backbone nodes by propagating the invitation packets and controlling the association time based on the link quality. Since the dynamically selected primary nodes are spread throughout the network, they can provide backbone to accept the association requests from the remaining secondary nodes which are majority in a network. In the performance evaluation, we show that the proposed topology construction algorithm effectively solves the orphan node problem regardless of network density as well as provides efficient tree routing cost comparable to the approximation algorithm for degree constrained minimum routing cost tree (DC-MRCT) problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Challenges in time series classification has attracted attention in the past decade. Although large amounts of labeled data are assumed to be available, in reality, labeled data might be scarce to find in many domains. In this paper, we propose an online semi-supervised multi-channel classifier for time series based on growing neural gas (GNG) learning scheme. The method is able to handle multi-channel time series with variation in dimensions and it introduces a label prediction strategy to minimize misclassification. It measures the similarity of input instance and learned templates using weighted multi-channel dynamic time warping technique and learns the topology of input data space specified for each class using the GNG learning algorithm. Comprehensive evaluation is conducted using various datasets, such as gesture recognition, human activity recognition, and human daily-life activity recognition. Experimental results demonstrate good classification results, with indication that the proposed approach requires only a handful of labeled instances to construct an accurate classification model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topology of the interbank market plays a crucial role during a crisis, affecting the spreading or absorption of financial shock. The structure of an interbank network changes in the process of its evolution because of the interbank interactions and the interactions between banks and customers. To simulate a temporal interbank network, it is necessary to set an initial state and an evolution law for the topology and system entities. Because of the complex interplay between the network topology and the bank states, the stability of a temporal interbank network is generally unpredictable, even if all parameters and rules of interactions are known. In this paper, we present a simulation tool for temporal interbank networks aimed at exploring the different drivers contributing to evolutionary dynamics of banking networks. We describe a general-simulation scheme for temporal interbank networks and incorporate the creation and rewiring of edges because of the counter-party choices with the deletion of nodes and edges in case of a bank default. An example of the implementation of the general scheme is also presented and include models of banks and customers, strategies of counter-party choice, and clearing algorithms. To perform a qualitative and quantitative study of the evolutionary process, the proposed simulation toolsupports the calculation of different topological and stability metrics and visualization of network evolution. The experimental study demonstrates (i) an illustrative example of the application of the simulation tool for synthetic networks while varying the counter-party choice policies and parameters of nodes and edges, and (ii) an investigation of the computational complexity and scalability of the simulation scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro and nanorobotics represents one of the most challenging sectors of modern robotics. Through batch fabrication of Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), advanced small scale sensing and actuating tasks in a wide area of applications can be performed. Most miniaturized electro-mechanical devices are characterized by low-power and low-memory capacity. The huge number of modular robots introduces the need to explore novel self-reconfiguration algorithms to optimize movement and communication performances in terms of efficiency, parallelism and scalability. Nano-transceivers and nano-antennas operating in the Terahertz Band are already a well acquainted communication paradigm, enforcing nano-wireless networking that can be directly integrated in MEMS microrobots. Several logical topology shape-shifting algorithms are already implemented and tested in literature, along with performance evaluation on nano-wireless use. This article aims to provide an algorithm to reconnect groups of microrobots, along with a novel movement model for microrobotics ensembles introduced to enforce more realistic simulations. Special emphasis is given on the need of novel movement algorithms for swarms of microrobots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we propose an adaptive P2P video streaming framework to address the challenges due to bandwidth heterogeneity and peer churn on the Internet. This adaptive streaming framework consists of two major components, source rate adaptation and adaptive overlay topology formation, to maximize the video quality and fully utilize the overall peer upload capacity. In the source rate adaptation, the video server adapts the video source rate automatically based on the local measurement of peers’ download rates, so that the P2P network is not overloaded beyond its bandwidth capacity and peers are able to achieve smooth video playback. To combat bandwidth heterogeneity, we propose to construct a desirable link-level homogeneous overlay topology using a Markov chain Monte Carlo method, so that peers achieve an equal per-connection upload/download bandwidth. In this link-level homogeneous network, video flows do not encounter any bottlenecks along the delivery paths, and peers achieve high download rates to ensure smooth video playback. We also design a fully distributed algorithm to implement the dual mechanisms of the adaptive topology formation and the source rate maximization. To evaluate the performance of our streaming framework, we conduct both mathematical analysis and extensive simulations. The simulation results confirm our analysis and show that the proposed distributed algorithm is able to maximize the video playback quality with fast convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low power consumption is a critical issue in wireless sensor networks. To achieve it, a number of arguments exist in favor of ad-hoc architectures and communication protocols, with high power optimization potential. These architectures, however, lack interoperability, as opposite to standardized wireless protocols. In this paper we present and validate experimentally a variable-granularity power model of Bluetooth and apply it to solve variable-complexity power optimization problems, with the goal of making the protocol viable for wireless sensor network scenarios. Among such optimizations, a set of heuristic rules is derived to build power-optimal Bluetooth scatternet topologies, which unlike most Bluetooth topology formation schemes stem directly from experimental evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultra wideband (UWB) network brings both chance and challenge to personal area wireless communications. Compared with other IEEE 802 small range wireless protocols (such as WLAN and Bluetooth), UWB has both extremely high bandwidth (up to 480 Mbps) and low radiation. Moreover, the structured MAC layer of UWB is the fundamental difference to WLAN. The top one is that only when two UWB devices belong to the same piconet can they communicate with each other directly, which means that we must jointly consider topology formation and routing when deploying UWB networks because the interaction between routing and topology formation makes separate optimization ineffective. This paper tries to optimize UWB network from a cross-layer point of view. Specifically, given device spatial distribution and traffic requirement, we want to form piconets and determine routing jointly, to maximize the overall throughput. We formulate the problem of joint optimization to mixed-integer programming and give a practical lower bound that is very close to the theoretical upper bound in our simulation. Furthermore, our lower bound is much better than an algorithm that only considers topology formation in UWB networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the throughput optimization problem in multihop ultra-wideband (UWB) networks by jointly considering network topology formation and routing. Given a spatial distribution of UWB devices and traffic requirement, we want to form piconets and select paths to maximize the network throughput. Although there have been several works considering the problem of selecting paths to achieve the optimal throughput in multihop wireless networks, to the best of our knowledge, none of them takes the topology formation into the consideration. In this paper, we use Boolean matrices to model role assignment in UWB networks and formulate the throughput optimization problem as a nonlinear programming (NLP) problem. Since the throughput optimization problem is NP-hard, we give an upper bound of the optimal throughput by relaxing some constraints and using pseudo-Boolean optimization to linearize the NLP. We prove that the solution of the upper bound is at most three times of the optimal throughput. Based on the topology formed by solving the upper bound, we formulate a lower bound of the optimal throughput as a linear programming problem and use column generation to solve the lower bound. Numerical results show that the lower bound is very close to the upper bound. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a distributed self-healing technique for topology formation in dynamic Bluetooth wireless personal area networks (BT-WPANs) and analyzes three new algorithms for scatternet formation. The three algorithms employ distributed procedures for the insertion of one or more nodes in a BT-WPAN, and are able to effectively compromise between the need for system efficiency and the desire to promptly adapt to topology changes. Depending on which algorithm is employed, the proposed approach generates BT-WPANs with different connectivity properties as well as topology structures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: In practical cluster analysis tasks, an efficient clustering algorithm should be less sensitive to parameter configurations and tolerate the existence of outliers. Based on the neural gas (NG) network framework, we propose an efficient prototype-based clustering (PBC) algorithm called enhanced neural gas (ENG) network. Several problems associated with the traditional PBC algorithms and original NG algorithm such as sensitivity to initialization, sensitivity to input sequence ordering and the adverse influence from outliers can be effectively tackled in our new scheme. In addition, our new algorithm can establish the topology relationships among the prototypes and all topology-wise badly located prototypes can be relocated to represent more meaningful regions. Experimental results 1 [1] Codes available at http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/EPNSugan on synthetic and UCI datasets show that our algorithm possesses superior performance in comparison to several PBC algorithms and their improved variants, such as hard c-means, fuzzy c-means, NG, fuzzy possibilistic c-means, credibilistic fuzzy c-means, hard/fuzzy robust clustering and alternative hard/fuzzy c-means, in static data clustering tasks with a fixed number of prototypes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We investigate issues that Bluetooth may face in evolving from a simple wire replacement to a large-scale ad hoc networking technology. We do so by examining the efficacy of Bluetooth in establishing a connected topology, which is a basic requirement of any networking technology. We demonstrate that Bluetooth experiences some fundamental algorithmic challenges in accomplishing this seemingly simple task. Specifically, deciding whether there exists at least one connected topology that satisfies the Bluetooth constraints is NP-hard. Several implementation problems also arise due to the internal structure of the Bluetooth protocol stack. All these together degrade the performance of the network, or increase the complexity of operation. Given the availability of efficient substitute technologies, Bluetooth's use may end up being limited to small ad hoc networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We propose a novel robust clustering algorithm within the Growing Neural Gas (GNG) framework, called Robust Growing Neural Gas (RGNG) network.1[1] The Matlab codes are available from http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/EPNSugan. By incorporating several robust strategies, such as outlier resistant scheme, adaptive modulation of learning rates and cluster repulsion method into the traditional GNG framework, the proposed RGNG network possesses better robustness properties. The RGNG is insensitive to initialization, input sequence ordering and the presence of outliers. Furthermore, the RGNG network can automatically determine the optimal number of clusters by seeking the extreme value of the Minimum Description Length (MDL) measure during network growing process. The resulting center positions of the optimal number of clusters represented by prototype vectors are close to the actual ones irrespective of the existence of outliers. Topology relationships among these prototypes can also be established. Experimental results have shown the superior performance of our proposed method over the original GNG incorporating MDL method, called GNG-M, in static data clustering tasks on both artificial and UCI data sets. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In-Flight Internet Connectivity (IFC) has become one of the crucial needs of passengers with technological improvements. The Aeronautical Ad-hoc Networks (AANETs) have been proposed by establishing air-to-air (A2A) links between aircraft to satisfy this need. However, the unstructured aircraft topology caused by their ultra-dynamic characteristics reduces the longevity of A2A links in AANET. This shorter longevity decreases the stability of AANET by accelerating the connection establishment/termination procedures between aircraft. Additionally, the shorter link longevity affects the packet transfer delay and the delivery ratio of AANET. To the best of our knowledge, these three challenges are not investigated simultaneously under one topology management model. This paper proposes a three-phased topology formation model for AANETs to increase the stability and packet delivery ratio in AANET with a shorter packet transfer delay. The first phase corresponds to the aircraft clustering formation, and here, we aim to increase the AANET stability by creating spatially correlated clusters. The second phase consists of the A2A link determination for reducing the packet transfer delay. Finally, the cluster head selection increases the packet delivery ratio in AANET. According to our simulations, we see that the stability and packet delivery ratio of AANET topology are roughly improved 35% and 31% with a 28% delay reduction compared to the methods in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]