CAREER: Spatial Models and Algorithms for Sensor Networks

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PROPOSAL: 0347400INSTITUTION: U of Texas AustinPRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Shakkottai, Sanjay TITLE: CAREER: Spatial Models and Algorithms for Sensor NetworksFrom everyday tasks like buying groceries, to tracking chemicalpollutants through a riverbed, sensor network technology willtransform the way we understand and interact with the physicalworld. Such networks will support communications over thousands ofsensor nodes -- communications of a scale not seen in today'snetworks.Motivated by the physics of gases, where the behavior of individualatoms are inconsequential in order to understand macroscopic behaviorsuch as pressure or temperature, this CAREER project develops a researchprogram based on a continuum viewpoint of a network of sensor nodes --where individual node properties aggregate, and manifest only asrandom fluctuations in an underlying continuous medium. By introducingtechniques from statistical physics, this proposal develops aframework for sensor network algorithm design and architecture. Thisis applied to obtain basic insights, and develop algorithms for sensornetwork communications -- from network protocol primitives such asquerying, flooding and route setup, to data flow path optimization, tothe interactions of multiple data flows over wireless media, and theirimpact on topological properties.Research results impact design methodology for a wide range of sensornetwork applications, and are incorporated into the undergraduate andgraduate curricula at UT Austin. The results are easily accessible toindustry through the Wireless Networking and Communications Groupindustrial affiliates program at UT Austin. A network testbed thatintegrates actual network hardware with analytical network models hasbeen prototyped to measure and validate sensor network algorithms, andfurthers outreach efforts to high school students.