Process algebra to model self-organizing behavior in Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper presents an extension of the ¿-calculus that allows the high-level modeling of self-organizing protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Process algebras (PA) as ¿-Calculus allow a high-level description of interactions among processes. Because the most important characteristic of self-organization is the restriction of interactions to neighboring elements (localized interactions), we extend the ¿-Calculus with the locality awareness, a necessary abstraction to allow the modeling of self-organization in WSNs. To get full locality awareness in ¿-Calculus we extended it with concepts for modeling spatiality, probability and time. Moreover, new types of channels are included in the ¿-Calculus to include the different types of communication existing in a WSN: distribution, broadcast and aggregation. In order to validate our new PA, we successfully model a self-organizing clustering algorithm for WSNs.