An algorithmic strategy for in-network distributed spatial analysis in wireless sensor networks

A wireless sensor network (WSN) can be construed as an intelligent, largely autonomous, instrument for scientific observation at fine temporal and spatial granularities and over large areas. The ability to perform spatial analyses over sensor data has often been highlighted as desirable in areas such as environmental monitoring. Whilst there exists research on computing topological changes of dynamic phenomena, existing proposals do not allow for more expressive in-network spatial analysis. This paper addresses the challenges involved in using WSNs to identify, track and report topological relationships between dynamic, transient spatial phenomena and permanent application-specific geometries focusing on cases where the geometries involved can be characterized by sets of nodes embedded in a finite 2-dimensional space. The approach taken is algebraic, i.e., analyses are expressed as algebraic expressions that compose primitive operations (such as Adjacent, or AreaInside). The main contributions are distributed algorithms for the operations in the proposed algebra and an empirical evaluation of their performance in terms of bit complexity, response time, and energy consumption. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.