[FRIAM] Sensor networks and self-organization

[Phil Henshaw]

Well, if sensor networks responded to what they sensed that would be
technically self-organizing wouldn't it?   Trouble of course is someone
has to design all that other circuitry and some prefered outcome...


Phil Henshaw                       ¸¸¸¸.·´ ¯ `·.¸¸¸¸
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: friam-bounces at redfish.com 
> [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of Raymond Parks
> Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 7:27 PM
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Sensor networks and self-organization
> 
> 
> Jochen Fromm wrote:
> >  
> > So what do you think ?
> 
>    Self organization is a part of many systems/networks 
> whether sensors 
> or otherwise.
> 
> > Are self-organization and sensor-networks synonymous ?
> 
>    No.
> 
> > Is it the best area to realize self-organization,
> > or just another example where self-organization is hard to achieve ?
> 
>    I wouldn't think static sensor webs are the best area to realize 
> self-organization.  Sensor webs as I know them are static - 
> that is the 
> sensors themselves don't move.  A much more interesting example of 
> self-organization would be robotic agents in various applications.
> 
>    One application I have heard of would be robots randomly 
> placed in an 
> area that need to sweep the area for mines.  The agent 
> society fails if 
> they don't cover the entire area.  They need to account for 
> losses due 
> to finding the mines the hard way.  If one assumes the environment is 
> malevolent, then they need to communicate with each other but cannot 
> freely trust each other.  I've only heard of this performed in 
> simulation.  Actual robots were built, but not in the quantity needed 
> for an actual test.
> 
>    There's also the Robot World Cup 
> <http://www.robocup.org/>, which has 
> teams of agents/robots 
> that self-organize into football teams.
> 
>    The ad-hoc routing that is required for communication 
> within dynamic 
> self-organizing systems has to trade-off between the inefficiency of 
> broadcast routing and continuous re-routing.
> 
>    One of the interesting concepts behind the Future Combat 
> System (you 
> can research this online) is the ad-hoc routing of the various 
> components.  I suppose one could call the nodes in FCS 
> sensors, but that 
> is not their primary function.
> 
> -- 
> Ray Parks                   rcparks at sandia.gov
> IDART Project Lead          Voice:505-844-4024
> IORTA Department            Mobile:505-238-9359
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> 
> 
> 
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