Decentralized area computation for spatial regions
Muhammad Jafar Sadeq, Matt Duckham · 2009
This paper addresses the analysis and design of a decentralized algorithm for computing the area of spatial regions, like regions of high temperature or environmental pollution. The algorithm is suitable for application to distributed spatial monitoring systems, like geosensor networks. In such systems, conventional algorithms that rely on centralized control are acknowledged to present substantial constraints to network scalability. The algorithm presented in this paper requires no global knowledge, relying instead purely on a local knowledge about a node and its immediate one-hop neighbors. The paper then indicates avenues for further research, including relaxing strong assumptions about connectivity and region shape (e.g., simple region boundaries), and the application of the algorithm to related problems, such as computing region centroids.