Differences in Robustness of Self-Organized Control and Centralized Control in Sensor Networks Caused by Differences in Control Dependence

Abstract

Self-organized control has received significant attention in the area of networking, and one of the main factors for this attention is its robustness. However, it should be stressed that deciding whether self-organized control is robust or not is not a trivial task. Even if it is in fact robust, the factors underlying its robustness have not yet been explored in sufficient detail. In this paper, we provide the first quantitative demonstration of the superior robustness of self-organized control through comparison with centralized control in a sensor network scenario. Through simulation experiments, we show that self-organized control maintains the functionality of its data collection even in a variety of perturbations. In addition, we point out that the difference in the robustness of the above mentioned control schemes stems from the degree to which the comprehension of a given node about the state of the network depends on information obtained from other nodes.