Exploring extreme wireless distributed systems

Abstract

Modern distributed systems are increasingly relying on components that need to make use of wireless technology. Examples include subsystems implemented as wireless sensor networks or subsystems making use of mobile computing platforms. In this tutorial, we'll be looking closer into wireless-only distributed systems that are extreme in one or several of the following dimensions: their size in terms of the number of nodes, the resource limitations of those nodes (memory, compute power, energy budget), or the harshness of their environment (lossy channels, mobility). In particular, we'll be discussing issues related to turning such extreme distributed systems into robust ones, addressing questions like: how to set up and maintaining routing paths, how to reliably disseminate information, and how to realize very large ultra-low duty-cycled networks. In the meantime, we draw examples from systems that are aimed at directly supporting human beings.