Abstract: In mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs), the mobility of the nodes is a complicating factor that significantly affects the effectiveness and performance of the routing protocols. Our work builds upon recent results on the effect of node mobility on the performance of available routing strategies (i.e.~path based, using support) and proposes a protocol framework that exploits the usually different mobility rates of the nodes by adapting the routing strategy during execution. We introduce a metric for the relative mobility of the nodes, according to which the nodes are classified into mobility classes. These mobility classes determine, for any pair of an origin and destination, the routing technique that best corresponds to their mobility properties. Moreover, special care is taken for nodes remaining almost stationary or moving with high (relative) speeds. Our key design goal is to limit the necessary implementation changes required to incorporate existing routing protocols in to our framework. We provide extensive evaluation of the proposed framework, using a well-known simulator (NS2). Our first findings demonstrate that the proposed framework improves, in certain cases, the performance of the existing routing protocols.
Abstract: In ad-hoc mobile networks (MANET), the mobility of the nodes is a complicating factor that significantly affects the effectiveness and performance of the routing protocols. Our work builds upon the recent results on the effect of node mobility on the performance of available routing strategies (i.e.~path based, using support) and proposes a protocol framework that exploits the usually different mobility rates of the nodes by adopting the routing strategy during execution. We introduce a metric for the relative mobility of the nodes, according to which the nodes are classified into mobility classes. These mobility classes determine, for any pair of origin and destination, the routing technique that best corresponds to their mobility properties. Moreover, special care is taken for nodes remaining almost stationary or moving with high (relative) speeds. Our key design goal is to limit the necessery implementation changes required to incorporate existing routing protocols in our framework. We provide extensive evaluation of the proposed framework, using a well-known simulator (NS2). Our first findings demonstrate that the proposed framework improves, in certain cases, the performance of the existing routing protocols.
Abstract: Smart Dust is a special case of wireless sensor networks, comprised of a vast number of ultra-small fully autonomous computing, communication and sensing devices, with very restricted energy and computing capabilities, that co-operate to accomplish a large sensing task. Smart Dust can be very useful in practice, i.e. in the local detection of remote crucial events and the propagation of data reporting their realization to a control center.
In this paper, we propose a new energy efficient and fault tolerant protocol for data propagation in smart dust networks, the Variable Transmission Range Protocol (VTRP). The basic idea of data propagation in VTRP is the varying range of data transmissions, i.e. we allow the transmission range to increase in various ways. Thus, data propagation in our protocol exhibits high fault-tolerance (by bypassing obstacles or faulty sensors) and increases network lifetime (since critical sensors, i.e. close to the control center are not overused). As far as we know, it is the first time varying transmission range is used.
We implement the protocol and perform an extensive experimental evaluation and comparison to a representative protocol (LTP) of several important performance measures with a focus on energy consumption. Our findings indeed demonstrate that our protocol achieves significant improvements in energy efficiency and network lifetime.
Abstract: In this work we propose a new energy efficient and fault tolerant protocol for data propagation in wireless sensor networks, the Variable Transmission Range Protocol VTRP. The basic idea of data propagation in VTRP is the varying range of data transmissions, ie. we allow the transmission range to increase in various ways. Thus data propagation in our protocol exhibits high fault-tolerance (by bypassing obstacles or faulty sensors) and increases network lifetime (since critical sensors, ie. close to the control center are not overused). As far as we know, it is the first time varying transmission range is used.
We implement the protocol and perform an extensive experimental evaluation and comparison to a representative protocol (LTP) of several important performance measures with a focus on energy consumption. Our findings indeed demonstrate that our protocol achieves significant improvements in energy efficiency and network lifetime.
Abstract: In this paper we consider the problem of web page usage prediction in a web site by modeling users¢ navigation history and web page content with weighted suffix trees. This user¢s navigation prediction can be exploited either in an on-line recommendation system in a web site or in a web page cache system. The method proposed has the advantage that it demands a constant amount of computational effort per one user¢s action and consumes a relatively small amount of extra memory space. These features make the method ideal for an on-line working environment. Finally, we have performed an evaluation of the proposed scheme with experiments on various web site log files and web pages and we have found that its quality performance is fairly well and in many cases an outperforming one.
Abstract: We investigate the problem of efficient data collection in wireless sensor networks where both the sensors and the sink move. We especially study the important, realistic case where the spatial distribution of sensors is non-uniform and their mobility is diverse and dynamic. The basic idea of our protocol is for the sink to benefit of the local information that sensors spread in the network as they move, in order
to extract current local conditions and accordingly adjust its trajectory. Thus, sensory motion anyway present in the network serves as a low cost replacement of network information propagation. In particular, we investigate two variations of our method: a)the greedy motion of the sink towards the region of highest density each time and b)taking into account the aggregate density in wider network regions. An extensive comparative evaluation to relevant data collection methods (both randomized and optimized deterministic), demonstrates that our approach achieves significant performance gains, especially in non-uniform placements (but also in uniform ones). In fact, the greedy version of our approach is more suitable in networks where the concentration regions appear in a spatially balanced manner, while the aggregate scheme is more appropriate in networks where the concentration areas are geographically correlated.
Abstract: Wireless Sensor Networks are by nature highly dynamic and communication between sensors is completely ad hoc, especially when mobile devices are part of the setup. Numerous protocols and applications proposed for such networks
operate on the assumption that knowledge of the neighborhood is a priori available to all nodes. As a result, WSN deployments need to use or implement from scratch a neighborhood discovery mechanism. In this work we present a new protocol based on adaptive periodic beacon exchanges. We totally avoid continuous beaconing by adjusting the rate of broadcasts using the concept of consistency over the understanding of neighborhood that nearby devices share. We propose, implement and evaluate our adaptive neighborhood discovery protocol over our experimental testbed and using large scale simulations. Our results indicate that the
new protocol operates more eciently than existing reference implementations while it provides valid information to applications that use it. Extensive performanceevaluation indicates that it successfully reduces generated network traffic by 90% and increases network lifetime by 20% compared to existing mechanisms that rely on continuous beaconing.
Abstract: We investigate the problem of efficient data collection in wireless sensor networks where both the sensors and the sink move. We especially study the important, realistic case where the spatial distribution of sensors is non-uniform and their mobility is diverse and dynamic. The basic idea of our protocol is for the sink to benefit of the local information that sensors spread in the network as they move, in order to extract current local conditions and accordingly adjust its trajectory. Thus, sensory motion anyway present in the network serves as a low cost replacement of network information propagation. In particular, we investigate two variations of our method: a) the greedy motion of the sink towards the region of highest density each time and b) taking into account the aggregate density in wider network regions. An extensive comparative evaluation to relevant data collection methods (both randomized and optimized deterministic), demonstrates that our approach achieves significant performance gains, especially in non-uniform placements (but also in uniform ones). In fact, the greedy version of our approach is more suitable in networks where the concentration regions appear in a spatially balanced manner, while the aggregate scheme is more appropriate in networks where the concentration areas are geographically correlated. We also investigate the case of multiple sinks by suggesting appropriate distributed coordination methods.
Abstract: As a result of recent significant technological advances, a new computing and communication environment, Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET), is about to enter the mainstream. A multitude of critical aspects, including mobility, severe limitations and limited reliability, create a new set of crucial issues and trade-offs that must be carefully taken into account in the design of robust and efficient algorithms for these environments. The communication among mobile hosts is one among the many issues that need to be resolved efficiently before MANET becomes a commodity.
In this paper, we propose to discuss the communication problem in MANET as well as present some characteristic techniques for the design, the analysis and the performanceevaluation of distributed communication protocols for mobile ad hoc networks. More specifically, we propose to review two different design techniques. While the first type of protocols tries to create and maintain routing paths among the hosts, the second set of protocols uses a randomly moving subset of the hosts that acts as an intermediate pool for receiving and delivering messages. We discuss the main design choices for each approach, along with performance analysis of selected protocols.
Abstract: Avertical perspective, ranging from management
and routing to physical layer options, concerning dynamic
network monitoring and compensation of impairments
(M&C),is given.Feasibility, reliability,and performance
improvements on reconfigurable transparent networksare
expected to arise from the consolidated assessment of network management and control specifications, as a more accurate evaluation of available M&C techniques. In the network
layer,physical parameters aware algorithms are foreseen to
pursue reliable network performance. In the physical layer,
some new M&C methods were developed and rating of the state-of-the-art reported in literature is given. Optical monitoring implementation and viability is discussed.
Abstract: We study the problem of energy-balanced data propagation in wireless sensor networks. The energy balance property is crucial for maximizing the time the network is functional, by avoiding early energy depletion of a large portion of sensors. We propose a distributed, adaptive data propagation algorithm that exploits limited, local network density information for achieving energy-balance while at the same time
minimizing energy dissipation.
We investigate both uniform and heterogeneous sensor placement distributions. By a detailed experimental evaluation and comparison with well-known energy-balanced protocols, we show that our density-based protocol improves energy efficiency signicantly while also having better energy balance properties.
Furthermore, we compare the performance of our protocol with a centralized, o-line optimum solution derived by a linear program which maximizes the network lifetime and show that it achieves near-optimal performance for uniform sensor deployments.
Abstract: This chapter aims at presenting certain important aspects of the design of lightweight, event-driven algorithmic solutions for data dissemination in wireless sensor networks that provide support for reliable, efficient and concurrency-intensive operation. We wish to emphasize that efficient solutions at several levels are needed, e.g.~higher level energy efficient routing protools and lower level power management schemes. Furthermore, it is important to combine such different level methods into integrated protocols and approaches. Such solutions must be simple, distributed and local. Two useful algorithmic design principles are randomization (to trade-off efficiency and fault-tolerance) and adaptation (to adjust to high network dynamics towards improved operation). In particular, we provide a) a brief description of the technical specifications of state-of-the-art sensor devices b) a discussion of possible models used to abstract such networks, emphasizing heterogeneity, c) some representative power management schemes, and d) a presentation of some characteristic protocols for data propagation. Crucial efficiency properties of these schemes and protocols (and their combinations, in some cases) are investigated by both rigorous analysis and performanceevaluations through large scale simulations.
Abstract: In this article, we present a detailed performanceevaluation of a hybrid optical switching (HOS)
architecture called Overspill Routing in Optical Networks
(ORION). The ORION architecture combines
(optical) wavelength and (electronic) packet switching,
so as to obtain the individual advantages of both switching
paradigms. In particular, ORION exploits the possible insertions/extractions, to reduce the necessary
interfaces, do not deteriorate performance and thus the
use of traffic concentrators assure ORION’s economic
viability.
idle periods of established lightpaths to transmit
packets destined to the next common node, or even
directly to their common end-destination. Depending
on whether all lightpaths are allowed to simultaneously
carry and terminate overspill traffic or overspill is restricted
to a sub-set of wavelengths, the architecture
limits itself to constrained or un-constrained ORION. To
evaluate both cases, we developed an extensive network
simulator where the basic features of the ORION architectureweremodeled,
including suitable edge/core node
switches and load-varying sources to simulate overloading
traffic conditions. Further, we have assessed various
aspects of the ORION architecture including two
basic routing/forwarding policies and various buffering
schemes. The complete network study shows that
ORION can absorb temporal traffic overloads, as intended,
provided sufficient buffering is present.We also
demonstrate that the restriction of simultaneous packet
Abstract: Wireless sensor networks are a recently introduced category of ad hoc computer networks, which are comprised by nodes of small size and limited computing and energy resources. Such nodes are able of measuring physical properties such as temperature, humidity, etc., wireless communication between each other and in some cases interaction with their surrounding environments (through the use of electromechanical parts).
As these networks have begun to be widely available (in terms of cost and commercial hardware availability), their field of application and philosophy of use is constantly evolving. We have numerous examples of their applications, ranging from monitoring the biodiversity of a specific outdoor area to structural health monitoring of bridges, and also networks ranging from few tens of nodes to even thousands of nodes.
In this PhD thesis we investigated the following basic research lines related to wireless sensor networks:
a) their simulation,
b) the development of data propagation protocols suited to such networks and their evaluation through simulation,
c) the modelling of ``hostile'' circumstances (obstacles) during their operation and evaluation of their impact through simulation,
d) the development of a sensor network management application.
Regarding simulation, we initially placed an emphasis to issues such as the effective simulation of networks of several thousands of nodes, and in that respect we developed a network simulator (simDust), which is extendable through the addition of new data propagation protocols and visualization capabilities. This simulator was used to evaluate the performance of a number of characteristic data propagation protocols for wireless sensor networks. Furthermore, we developed a new protocol (VRTP) and evaluated its performance against other similar protocols. Our studies show that the new protocol, that uses dynamic changes of the transmission range of the network nodes, performs better in certain cases than other related protocols, especially in networks containing obstacles and in the case of non-homogeneous placement of nodes.
Moreover, we emphasized on the addition of ``realistic'' conditions to the simulation of such protocols, that have an adversarial effect on their operation. Our goal was to introduce a model for obstacles that adds little computational overhead to a simulator, and also study the effect of the inclusion of such a model on data propagation protocols that use geographic information (absolute or relative). Such protocols are relatively sensitive to dynamic topology changes and network conditions. Through our experiments, we show that the inclusion of obstacles during simulation can have a significant effect on these protocols.
Finally, regarding applications, we initially proposed an architecture (WebDust/ShareSense), for the management of such networks, that would provide basic capabilities of managing such networks and developing applications above it. Features that set it apart are the capability of managing multiple heterogeneous sensor networks, openess, the use of a peer-to-peer architecture for the interconnection of multiple sensor network. A large part of the proposed architecture was implemented, while the overall architecture was extended to also include additional visualization capabilities.
Abstract: Wireless sensor networks are comprised of a vast number of devices, situated in an area of interest that self organize in a structureless network, in order to monitor/record/measure an environmental variable or phenomenon and subsequently to disseminate the data to the control center.
Here we present research focused on the development, simulation and evaluation of energy efficient algorithms, our basic goal is to minimize the energy consumption. Despite technology advances, the problem of energy use optimization remains valid since current and emerging hardware solutions fail to solve it.
We aim to reduce communication cost, by introducing novel techniques that facilitate the development of new algorithms. We investigated techniques of distributed adaptation of the operations of a protocol by using information available locally on every node, thus through local choices we improve overall performance. We propose techniques for collecting and exploiting limited local knowledge of the network conditions. In an energy efficient manner, we collect additional information which is used to achieve improvements such as forming energy efficient, low latency and fault tolerant paths to route data. We investigate techniques for managing mobility in networks where movement is a characteristic of the control center as well as the sensors. We examine methods for traversing and covering the network field based on probabilistic movement that uses local criteria to favor certain areas.
The algorithms we develop based on these techniques operate a) at low level managing devices, b) on the routing layer and c) network wide, achieving macroscopic behavior through local interactions. The algorithms are applied in network cases that differ in density, node distribution, available energy and also in fundamentally different models, such as under faults, with incremental node deployment and mobile nodes. In all these settings our techniques achieve significant gains, thus distinguishing their value as tools of algorithmic design.
Abstract: Wireless sensor networks are comprised of a vast number of ultra-small fully autonomous computing, communication and sensing devices, with very restricted energy and computing capabilities, which co-operate to accomplish a large sensing task. Such networks can be very useful in practice in applications that require fine-grain monitoring of physical environment subjected to critical conditions (such as inaccessible terrains or disaster places). Very large numbers of sensor devices can be deployed in areas of interest and use self-organization and collaborative methods to form deeply networked environments. Features including the huge number of sensor devices involved, the severe power, computational and memory limitations, their dense deployment and frequent failures, pose new design and implementation aspects. The efficient and robust realization of such large, highly-dynamic, complex, non-conventional environments is a challenging algorithmic and technological task. In this work we consider certain important aspects of the design, deployment and operation of distributed algorithms for data propagation in wireless sensor networks and discuss some characteristic protocols, along with an evaluation of their performance.
Abstract: In this paper we present the efficient burst reservation protocol (EBRP) suitable
for bufferless optical burst switching (OBS) networks. The EBRP protocol is a
two-way reservation scheme that employs timed and in-advance reservation of
resources. In the EBRP protocol timed reservations are relaxed, introducing a
reservation time duration parameter that is negotiated during call setup phase.
This feature allows bursts to reserve resources beyond their actual size to
increase their successful forwarding probability and can be used to provide
quality-of-service (QoS) differentiation. The EBRP protocol is suitable for
OBS networks and can guarantee a low blocking probability for bursts that can
tolerate the round-trip delay associated with the two-way reservation.We present
the main features of the proposed protocol and describe in detail the timing
considerations regarding the call setup phase and the actual reservation process.
Furthermore, we show evaluation results and compare the EBRP performance
against two other typical reservation schemes, a tell-and-wait and a tell-and-go
(just-enough-time) like protocol. EBRP has been developed for the control plane
of the IST-LASAGNE project.
Abstract: Through recent technology advances in the eld of wireless energy transmission, Wireless Rechargeable Sensor Networks
(WRSN) have emerged. In this new paradigm for
WSNs a mobile entity called Mobile Charger (MC) traverses
the network and replenishes the dissipated energy of sensors.
In this work we rst provide a formal denition of the charging
dispatch decision problem and prove its computational
hardness. We then investigate how to optimize the tradeo
s of several critical aspects of the charging process such
as a) the trajectory of the charger, b) the dierent charging
policies and c) the impact of the ratio of the energy
the MC may deliver to the sensors over the total available
energy in the network. In the light of these optimizations,
we then study the impact of the charging process to the
network lifetime for three characteristic underlying routing
protocols; a greedy protocol, a clustering protocol and an
energy balancing protocol. Finally, we propose a Mobile
Charging Protocol that locally adapts the circular trajectory
of the MC to the energy dissipation rate of each sub-region
of the network. We compare this protocol against several
MC trajectories for all three routing families by a detailed
experimental evaluation. The derived ndings demonstrate
signicant performance gains, both with respect to the no
charger case as well as the dierent charging alternatives; in
particular, the performance improvements include the network
lifetime, as well as connectivity, coverage and energy
balance properties.
Abstract: We present key aspects (hardware, software, topology, networking) of SenseWall, an experimental sensor network test-bed we have created for the implementation and engineering of distributed sensor network algorithms. We then describe how SenseWall has been in particular used to implement two recent state of the art algorithms for energy balanced sensor data propagation. We elaborate on the issues and challenges created by the restrictions and particularities of the experimental test-bed and how we dealt with them. We also carry out a detailed performanceevaluation comparing the energy balance protocols to two baseline protocols that include only either single hop or direct data transmissions.
Abstract: In this work we discuss Fun in Numbers, a software platform for implementing multiplayer games and interactive installations, that are based on the use of ad hoc mobile sensing devices. We utilize a detailed log of a three-day long public showcase as a basis to discuss the implementation issues related to a set of games and installations, which are examples of this unique category of applications, utilizing a blend of technologies. We discuss their fundamental concepts and features, also arguing that they have many aspects and potential uses. The architecture of the platform and implementation details are highlighted in this work, along with detailed descriptions of the protocols used. Our experiments shed light on a number of key issues, such as network scaling and real-time performance, and we provide experiments regarding cross-layer software issues. We additionally provide data showing that such games and installations can be efficiently supported by our platform, with as many as 50 concurrent players in the same physical space. These results are backed up by a user evaluation study from a large sample of 136 visitors, which shows that such applications can be seriously fun.
Abstract: This paper addresses the efficient processing of
top-k queries in wide-area distributed data
repositories where the index lists for the attribute
values (or text terms) of a query are distributed
across a number of data peers and the
computational costs include network latency,
bandwidth consumption, and local peer work.
We present KLEE, a novel algorithmic
framework for distributed top-k queries,
designed for high performance and flexibility.
KLEE makes a strong case for approximate top-k
algorithms over widely distributed data sources.
It shows how great gains in efficiency can be
enjoyed at low result-quality penalties. Further,
KLEE affords the query-initiating peer the
flexibility to trade-off result quality and expected
performance and to trade-off the number of
communication phases engaged during query
execution versus network bandwidth
performance. We have implemented KLEE and
related algorithms and conducted a
comprehensive performanceevaluation. Our
evaluation employed real-world and synthetic
large, web-data collections, and query
benchmarks. Our experimental results show that
KLEE can achieve major performance gains in
terms of network bandwidth, query response
times, and much lighter peer loads, all with small
errors in result precision and other result-quality
measures
Abstract: Recent rapid developments in micro-electro-mechanical systems
(MEMS), wireless communications and digital electronics have already
led to the development of tiny, low-power, low-cost sensor devices.
Such devices integrate sensing, limited data processing and restricted
communication capabilities.
Each sensor device individually might have small utility, however the
effective distributed co-ordination of large numbers of such devices can
lead to the efficient accomplishment of large sensing tasks. Large numbers
of sensors can be deployed in areas of interest (such as inaccessible
terrains or disaster places) and use self-organization and collaborative
methods to form an ad-hoc network.
We note however that the efficient and robust realization of such large,
highly-dynamic, complex, non-conventional networking environments is
a challenging technological and algorithmic task, because of the unique
characteristics and severe limitations of these devices.
This talk will present and discuss several important aspects of the
design, deployment and operation of sensor networks. In particular, we
provide a brief description of the technical specifications of state-of-theart
sensor, a discussion of possible models used to abstract such networks,
a discussion of some key algorithmic design techniques (like randomization,
adaptation and hybrid schemes), a presentation of representative
protocols for sensor networks, for important problems including data
propagation, collision avoidance and energy balance and an evaluation
of crucial performance properties (correctness, efficiency, fault-tolerance)
of these protocols, both with analytic and simulation means.
Abstract: In this paper, we describe the implementation of
applying and testing the ”Lightweight Target Tracking using
Passive Traces algorithm” [1] on a FIRE wireless sensors testbed
located in the Theoretical Computer Science/Sensors Lab in
Geneva, Switzerland. We provide information about the hardware
installation and configuration, the changes we did to the
algorithm to adapt it to a real testbed as well as the tools we
implemented to operate the network and receive feedback from
the algorithm’s operation. Finally, we discuss the performanceevaluation findings of our implementation.
Abstract: In this paper we present an implementation and performanceevaluation of a descent algorithm that was proposed in \cite{tsaspi} for the computation of approximate Nash equilibria of non-cooperative bi-matrix games. This algorithm, which achieves the best polynomially computable \epsilon-approximate equilibria till now, is applied here to several problem instances designed so as to avoid the existence of easy solutions. Its performance is analyzed in terms of quality of approximation and speed of convergence. The results demonstrate significantly better performance than the theoretical worst case bounds, both for the quality of approximation and for the speed of convergence. This motivates further investigation into the intrinsic characteristics of descent algorithms applied to bi-matrix games. We discuss these issues and provide some insights about possible variations and extensions of the algorithmic concept that could lead to further understanding of the complexity of computing equilibria. We also prove here a new significantly better bound on the number of loops required for convergence of the descent algorithm.
Abstract: We present a detailed performanceevaluation of a
hybrid optical switching architecture called Overspill Routing in
Optical Networks (ORION). The ORION architecture combines
wavelength and (electronic) packet switching, so as to obtain the
advantages of both switching paradigms. We have developed an
extensive network simulator where the basic features of the
ORION architecture were modeled, including suitable loadvarying
sources and edge/core node architectures. Various aspects
of the ORION architecture were studied including the routing
policies used (i.e. once ORION always ORION and lightpath reentry)
and the various options available for the buffer
architecture. The complete network study shows that ORION can
absorb temporary traffic overloads, as intended, provided
sufficient buffering is present.
Abstract: This Volume contains the 11 papers corresponding to poster and demo presentations
accepted to the 7th ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Modeling,
Analysis and Simulation ofWireless and Mobile Systems (MSWiM 04),
that is held October 4-6, 2004, in Venice, Italy.
MSWiM 2004 (http://www.cs.unibo.it/mswim2004/) is intended to provide
an international forum for original ideas, recent results and achievements on
issues and challenges related to mobile and wireless systems.
A Call for Posters was announced and widely disseminated, soliciting posters
that report on recent original results or on-going research in the area of wireless
and mobile networks. Prospective authors were encouraged to submit interesting
results on all aspects of modeling, analysis and simulation of mobile and
wireless networks and systems. The scope and topics of the Posters Session
were the same as those included in the MSWiM Call for Papers (see above).
Poster presentations were meant to provide authors with early feedback on
their research work and enable them to present their research and exchange
ideas during the Symposium.
All submissions to the call for posters as well as selected papers submitted
to MSWiM 04 were considered and reviewed. The review process resulted in
accepting the set of 11 papers included in this Volume. Accepted posters will
also be on display during the Symposium.
The set of papers in this Proceedings covers a wide range of important topics
in wireless and mobile computing, including channel allocation in wireless
networks, quality of service provisioning in IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs, IP
mobility support, energy conservation, routing in mobile adhoc networks, resource
sharing, wireless access to the WWW, sensor networks etc. The performanceevaluation techniques used include both analysis and simulation.
We hope that the poster papers included in this Volume will facilitate a fruitful
and lively discussion and exchange of interesting and creative ideas during
the Symposium.
We wish to thank the MSWiM Steering Committee Chair Azzedine Boukerche
and the Program Co-Chairs ofMSWiM 04 Carla-Fabiana Chiasserini and
Lorenzo Donatiello for their valuable help in the selection procedure. Also, the
MSWiM 04 Publicity Co-Chairs Luciano Bononi, Helen Karatza and Mirela
Sechi Moretti Annoni Notare for disseminating the Call for Posters.
We wish to warmly thank the Poster Proceedings Chair Ioannis Chatzigiannakis
for carefully doing an excellent job in preparing the Volume you now
hold in your hands.
Abstract: Wireless sensor network research usually focuses on the reliable and efficient collection of data. In
this paper we focus on the next step in the lifetime of traces: we aim at investigating and evaluating, by
qualitative and quantitative means, data repositories of already collected measurements. Concerning the
collected datasets, several important topics arise like the need of exchanging traces between researchers
using a common representation of the traces and the need for common classication of the traces based on
a commonly-agreed set of statistical characteristics for in retrospect utilization. In order to qualitatively
address these issues, we propose the use of a novel set of metrics focusing on the in-network data aggregation
problem class. These metrics enable reliable evaluation of algorithms using the same benchmark traces (both
in average cases and \stressful" setups) removing the need for running algorithms in a real testbed, at least
in the initial development stage. We present the results of our research as a rst approach for addressing this
problem, and in order to conrm our method, we characterized several traces with the proposed metrics.
We validate the metrics by predicting the performance of three data-aggregation schemes using the available
traces and checking the results by actually running the algorithms
Abstract: In this paper we present a signaling protocol for
QoS differentiation suitable for optical burst switching networks.
The proposed protocol is a two-way reservation scheme that
employs delayed and in-advance reservation of resources. In this
scheme delayed reservations may be relaxed, introducing a
reservation duration parameter that is negotiated during call
setup phase. This feature allows bursts to reserve resources
beyond their actual size to increase their successful forwarding
probability and is used to provide QoS differentiation. The
proposed signaling protocol offers a low blocking probability for
bursts that can tolerate the round-trip delay required for the
reservations. We present the main features of the protocol and
describe in detail timing considerations regarding the call setup
and the reservation process. We also describe several methods
for choosing the protocol parameters so as to optimize
performance and present corresponding evaluation results.
Furthermore, we compare the performance of the proposed
protocol against that of two other typical reservation protocols, a
Tell-and-Wait and a Tell-and-Go protocol.
Abstract: Data propagation in wireless sensor
networks is usually performed as a multihop process.
Thus,
To deliver a single
message, the resources of many sensor nodes are used and
a lot of energy is spent.
Recently, a novel approach is catching momentum because of important applications;
that of having a mobile sink move inside the network area and collect
the data with low energy cost.
Here we extend this line of research by proposing and evaluating three new protocols.
Our protocols are novel in
a) investigating the impact of having {many} mobile sinks
b) in weak models with restricted mobility, proposing and evaluating
a mix of static and mobile sinks and c) proposing a distributed
protocol that tends to {equally spread the sinks} in the network to
further improve performance.
Our protocols are simple, based on randomization and assume locally
obtainable information. We perform an extensive evaluation via simulation; our
findings demonstrate that our solutions scale very well with respect to the number of sinks
and significantly reduce energy consumption and delivery delay.
Abstract: Efficient query processing in traditional database
management systems relies on statistics on base data. For centralized systems, there is a rich body of research results on such statistics, from simple aggregates to more elaborate synopses such as sketches and histograms. For Internet-scale distributed systems, on the other hand, statisticsmanagement still poses major challenges. With the work in this paper we aim to endow peer-to-peer data management over structured
overlays with the power associated with such statistical information, with emphasis on meeting the scalability challenge.
To this end, we first contribute efficient, accurate, and decentralized algorithms that can compute key aggregates such as Count, CountDistinct, Sum, and Average. We show how to construct several types of histograms, such as simple Equi-Width, Average Shifted Equi-Width, and Equi-Depth histograms. We present a full-fledged open-source implementation
of these tools for distributed statistical synopses,
and report on a comprehensive experimental performanceevaluation, evaluating our contributions in terms of efficiency, accuracy, and scalability.
Abstract: The timetable information problem can be solved by computing shortest paths in special graphs built from timetable data. In general, two models exist: the time-dependent and time-expanded network. In a recent work, both models are compared with respect to advantages and disadvantages on a theoretical and a practical framework. In addition, an extensive experimental evaluation reveals further differences with respect to query performance. However, delays which occur very frequently in railway systems are not covered. In this work, we show how the time-dependent and the time-expanded models should be updated in order to capture delays. It turns out that delays can be incorporated in the time-dependent model without changing the topology of the network. This is not true for the time-expanded model, whose updating involves a (sometimes large) sequence of edge insertions, deletions, and cost modifications.
Abstract: Experimentally driven research for wireless sensor networks is invaluable to provide benchmarking and comparison of new ideas. An increasingly common tool in support of this is a testbed composed of real hardware devices which increases the realism of evaluation. However, due to hardware costs the size and heterogeneity of these testbeds is usually limited. In addition, a testbed typically has a relatively static configuration in terms of its network topology and its software support infrastructure, which limits the utility of that testbed to specific case-studies. We propose a novel approach that can be used to (i) interconnect a large number of small testbeds to provide a federated testbed of very large size, (ii) support the interconnection of heterogeneous hardware into a single testbed, and (iii) virtualise the physical testbed topology and thus minimise the need to relocate devices. We present the most important design issues of our approach and evaluate its performance. Our results indicate that testbed virtualisation can be achieved with high efficiency and without hindering the realism of experiments.