Collaborative Research: NeTS-NOSS: Distributed Algorithms for Sensor-Aided Directories to Mobile Objects

具有传感和网络功能的低成本设备的可用性为观察物理世界提供了前所未有的令人兴奋的机会。许多设想中的传感器网络应用涉及对移动物体的监控，比如车辆或动物。本项目设计、分析并实现了轻量级的传感器辅助分布式目录，该目录可以引导用户到（移动）对象的当前位置，并回答关于它们的单个或聚合查询。目录的设计使用局部性作为主要标准：对象位置或网络结构中的扰动的影响必须是局部的，并且不应超出接近扰动的限制区域。目录被设计为同时管理多个移动对象或一起移动的对象组。该项目研究了基于各种分布式计算技术的新型目录方案的构建，包括链接反转、路径反转、分层方法和分布式数据流草图。生成的目录具有可伸缩性、高能效和对网络故障的弹性。通过理论分析、仿真和在爱荷华州立大学建立的传感器网络测试台上的实现，对目录的性能进行了评估。预计这项研究将使传感器辅助物体监测的规模比现在可能的要大得多，并将有利于任何涉及跟踪移动物体的传感器网络应用。这项研究将涉及各级教育系统的学生。这项研究的结果将通过期刊和会议的出版物广泛传播，并将在CoRR网上公布。

The availability of low-cost devices with sensing and networking capabilities has opened up an exciting opportunity to observe the physical world like never before. Many envisioned applications of sensor networks involve monitoring of mobile objects, such as vehicles or animals. This project designs, analyzes and implements lightweight sensor-aided distributed directories, which can guide users to current locations of (mobile) objects, and answer individual or aggregate queries about them. Directories are designed using locality as a primary criterion: the effect of a perturbation in an object's position or in the network structure must be local, and should not cascade beyond a restricted region that is close to the perturbation. Directories are designed to simultaneously manage multiple mobile objects or groups of objects moving together. The project investigates the construction of novel directory schemes based on various distributed computation techniques, including link reversal, path reversal, hierarchical methods, and sketching of distributed data streams. The resulting directories are scalable, energy-efficient, and resilient to network failures. The performances of the directories are evaluated through a combination of theoretical analysis, simulation, and implementation on a sensor network testbed that has been built at Iowa State University. It is expected that the research will enable sensor-aided object monitoring at a much larger scale than is now possible, and will benefit any application of sensor networks that involves tracking mobile objects. The research will involve students at various levels of the educational system. The results of this research will be widely disseminated through publications in journals and conferences, and will be posted online at CoRR.