Mobile sink-based data collection in event-driven wireless sensor networks using a modified ant colony optimization

The hotspot problem is one of the primary challenges in the wireless sensor networks (WSNs) because it isolates the sink node from the remaining part of the WSN. A mobile sink (MS)-based data acquisition strategy mitigates the hotspot problem, but the traditional MS-based data gathering approaches do not resolve the issue. However, the conventional techniques follow a fixed order of visits and static traversal of the MS. In this context, this paper uses a modified version of the ant colony optimization strategy for the data collected through a MS to mitigate the hotspot problem in the WSNs while improving the energy efficiency, network lifetime, throughput by reducing the packet loss and delay. In our work, we initially construct a forwarded load spanning tree to estimate the freight of each node in the WSN. Further, we choose RPs and their path simultaneously using the modified ACO algorithm by considering the forward loads, remaining energy, distance, etc. The proposed work also adopts the virtual RP selection strategy void unnecessary data exchanges between the nodes and RPs. Hence, it reduces the burden on relay nodes and optimize the energy usage among the nodes. We compare our approach with the recent ACO-based algorithms, and our approach outperforms them.     

蚁群元胞优化算法在人群疏散路径规划中的应用

针对疏散路径规划问题,以栅格化地图为背景的基础上,提出了蚁群元胞优化算法.首先为统一仿真时间步长,建立以六边形元胞为基础的栅格地图;然后利用静态势场对启发函数进行优化,利用分段更新规则优化信息素更新方式;最后,将模型参数作为粒子群优化算法的粒子位置信息进行优化,求解参数的最优组合值.仿真结果表明:采用蚁群元胞优化模型进行疏散路径规划时,不仅加快了搜索速度,而且增大了解空间,提高了搜索能力,可以有效避免陷入局部最优解.     

Integrating network structure and dynamic information for better routing strategy on scale-free networks

We study information packet routing processes on scale-free networks by mimicking the Internet traffic delivery strategies. We incorporate both the global network structure information and local queuing information in the dynamic processes. We propose several new routing strategies to guide the packet routing. The performance of the routing strategies is measured by the average transit time of the packets as well as their dependence on the traffic amount. We find that the routing strategies which integrate both global network structure information and local dynamic information perform much better than the traditional shortest-path routing protocol which takes into account only the global topological information. Moreover, from comparative studies of these routing strategies, we observe that some of our proposed methods can decrease the average transit time of packets but the performance is closely dependent on the total amount of traffic while some other proposed methods can have good performance independent of the total amount of traffic with hyper-excellent average transit time of packets. Also, numerical results show that our proposed methods integrating network structure information and local dynamic information can work much better than the methods recently proposed in [S. Sreenivasan, R. Cohen, E. López, Z. Toroczkai, H.E. Stanley, Phys. Rev. E 75 (2007) 036105, Zhi-Xi Wu, Gang Peng, Eric W.M. Wong, Kai-Hau Yeung, J. Stat. Mech. (2008) P11002.], which only considered network structure information.     

A self-organizing shortest path finding strategy on complex networks

The shortcomings of traditional methods to find the shortest path are revealed, and a strategy of finding the self-organizing shortest path based on thermal flux diffusion on complex networks is presented. In our method, the shortest paths between the source node and the other nodes are found to be self-organized by comparing node temperatures. The computation complexity of the method scales linearly with the number of edges on underlying networks. The effects of the method on several networks, including a regular network proposed by Ravasz and Barabási which is called the RB network, a real network, a random network proposed by Ravasz and Barabási which is called the ER network and a scale-free network, are also demonstrated. Analytic and simulation results show that the method has a higher accuracy and lower computational complexity than the conventional methods.     

基于蚁群优化与神经网络的坦克目标识别算法

为了对成像引信探测得到的变形严重的图像进行识别,提出了基于蚁群优化与人工神经网络相结合的坦克目标识别算法.采用SUSAN特征检测原则提取目标图像的角点特征,作为神经网络模式分类器的输入.针对BP网络收敛速度慢,易于陷入局部极小点等问题,利用蚁群优化算法训练网络权值,可兼有ANN的广泛映射能力和蚁群算法的全局收敛以及启发式学习等特点.仿真实验表明,新算法能够有效缩短网络训练时间,提高目标识别精度.     

Ant colony clustering with fitness perception and pheromone diffusion for community detection in complex networks

Community structure detection in complex networks has been intensively investigated in recent years. In this paper, we propose an adaptive approach based on ant colony clustering to discover communities in a complex network. The focus of the method is the clustering process of an ant colony in a virtual grid, where each ant represents a node in the complex network. During the ant colony search, the method uses a new fitness function to percept local environment and employs a pheromone diffusion model as a global information feedback mechanism to realize information exchange among ants. A significant advantage of our method is that the locations in the grid environment and the connections of the complex network structure are simultaneously taken into account in ants moving. Experimental results on computer-generated and real-world networks show the capability of our method to successfully detect community structures.     

Routing and wavelength assignment in WDM networks with dynamic link weight assignment

We consider the routing and wavelength assignment problem on wavelength division multiplexing networks without wavelength conversion. When the physical network and required connections are given, routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) is the problem to select a suitable path and wavelength among the many possible choices for each connection such that no two paths using the same wavelength pass through the same link. In wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical networks, there is need to maximize the number of connections established and to minimize the blocking probability using limited resources. In this paper, we have proposed three dynamic link weight assignment strategies that change the link weight according to the traffic. The performance of the existing trend and the proposed strategies is shown in terms of blocking probability. The simulation results show that all the proposed strategies perform better than the existing trend.     

A framework to approach problems of forensic anthropology using complex networks

We have developed a method to analyze and interpret emerging structures in a set of data which lacks some information. It has been conceived to be applied to the problem of getting information about people who disappeared in the Argentine state of Tucumán from 1974 to 1981. Even if the military dictatorship formally started in Argentina had begun in 1976 and lasted until 1983, the disappearance and assassination of people began some months earlier. During this period several circuits of Illegal Detention Centres (IDC) were set up in different locations all over the country. In these secret centres, disappeared people were illegally kept without any sort of constitutional guarantees, and later assassinated. Even today, the final destination of most of the disappeared people’s remains is still unknown. The fundamental hypothesis in this work is that a group of people with the same political affiliation whose disappearances were closely related in time and space shared the same place of captivity (the same IDC or circuit of IDCs). This hypothesis makes sense when applied to the systematic method of repression and disappearances which was actually launched in Tucumán, Argentina (2007) [11]. In this work, the missing individuals are identified as nodes on a network and connections are established among them based on the individuals’ attributes while they were alive, by using rules to link them. In order to determine which rules are the most effective in defining the network, we use other kind of knowledge available in this problem: previous results from the anthropological point of view (based on other sources of information, both oral and written, historical and anthropological data, etc.); and information about the place (one or more IDCs) where some people were kept during their captivity. For these best rules, a prediction about these people’s possible destination is assigned (one or more IDCs where they could have been kept), and the success of the prediction is evaluated. By applying this methodology, we have been successful in 71% of the cases. The best rules take into account the proximity of the locations where the kidnappings took place, and link events which occurred in periods of time from 5 to 7 days. Finally, we used one of the best rules to build a network of IDCs in an attempt to formalize the relation between the illegal detention centres. We found that this network makes sense because there are survivors’ testimonies which confirm some of these connections.     

Optimal navigation for characterizing the role of the nodes in complex networks

In this paper, we explore how the approach of optimal navigation (Cajueiro (2009) [33]) can be used to evaluate the centrality of a node and to characterize its role in a network. Using the subway network of Boston and the London rapid transit rail as proxies for complex networks, we show that the centrality measures inherited from the approach of optimal navigation may be considered if one desires to evaluate the centrality of the nodes using other pieces of information beyond the geometric properties of the network. Furthermore, evaluating the correlations between these inherited measures and classical measures of centralities such as the degree of a node and the characteristic path length of a node, we have found two classes of results. While for the London rapid transit rail, these inherited measures can be easily explained by these classical measures of centrality, for the Boston underground transportation system we have found nontrivial results.     

Cluster synchronization in the adaptive complex dynamical networks via a novel approach

This Letter investigates cluster synchronization in the adaptive complex dynamical networks with nonidentical nodes by a local control method and a novel adaptive strategy for the coupling strengths of the networks. In this approach, the coupling strength of each node adjusts adaptively only based on the state information of its neighborhood. By means of the proposed scheme, the sufficient conditions for achieving cluster synchronization are derived analytically by utilizing Lyapunov stability theory. It is demonstrated that the synchronization performance is sensitively affected by the control gain, the inner-coupling matrix and the network topological structure. The numerical simulations are performed to verify the effectiveness of the theoretical results.     

一种新的网络传播中最有影响力的节点发现方法

在复杂网络的传播模型研究中, 如何发现最具影响力的传播节点在理论和现实应用中都有重大的意义. 目前的研究一般使用节点的度数、紧密度、介数和K-shell等中心化指标来评价影响力, 这种方法虽然简单, 但是由于它们仅利用了节点自身的内部属性, 因而在评价影响力时精确度并不高, 普遍性适用性较弱.为了解决这个问题, 本文提出了KSC (K-shell and community centrality)指标模型. 此模型不但考虑了节点的内部属性, 而且还综合考虑了节点的外部属性, 例如节点所属的社区等. 然后利用SIR (susceptible-infected-recovered)模型对传播过程进行仿真, 实验证明所提出的方法可以更好地发现最具有影响力的节点, 且可适用于各种复杂网络. 本文为这项具有挑战性研究提供了新的思想和方法. 关键词： 复杂网络 最具影响力的节点 社区划分 中性化测量     

An analytic approach to the measurement of nestedness in bipartite networks

We present an index that measures the nestedness pattern of bipartite networks, a problem that arises in theoretical ecology. Our measure is derived using the sum of distances of the occupied elements in the incidence matrix of the network. This index quantifies directly the deviation of a given matrix from the nested pattern. In the simplest case the distance of the matrix element a_i,j is d_i,j=i+j, the Manhattan distance. A generic distance is obtained as d_i,j=(i^χ+j^χ)^1/χ. The nestedness index is defined by ν=1−τ, where τ is the “temperature” of the matrix. We construct the temperature index using two benchmarks: the distance of the complete nested matrix that corresponds to zero temperature and the distance of the average random matrix where the temperature is defined as one. We discuss an important feature of the problem: matrix occupancy ρ. We address this question using a metric index χ that adjusts for matrix occupancy.     

A lightweight cell switching and traffic offloading scheme for energy optimization in ultra-dense heterogeneous networks

One of the major capacity boosters for 5G networks is the deployment of ultra-dense heterogeneous networks (UDHNs). However, this deployment results in a tremendous increase in the energy consumption of the network due to the large number of base stations (BSs) involved. In addition to enhanced capacity, 5G networks must also be energy efficient for it to be economically viable and environmentally friendly. Dynamic cell switching is a very common way of reducing the total energy consumption of the network, but most of the proposed methods are computationally demanding, which makes them unsuitable for application in ultra-dense network deployment with massive number of BSs. To tackle this problem, we propose a lightweight cell switching scheme also known as Threshold-based Hybrid cEll swItching Scheme (THESIS) for energy optimization in UDHNs. The developed approach combines the benefits of clustering and exhaustive search (ES) algorithm to produce a solution whose optimality is close to that of the ES (which is guaranteed to be optimal), but is computationally more efficient than ES and as such can be applied for cell switching in real networks even when their dimension is large. The performance evaluation shows that THESIS significantly reduces the energy consumption of the UDHN and can reduce the complexity of finding a near-optimal solution from exponential to polynomial complexity.     

A vibrational approach to node centrality and vulnerability in complex networks

We propose a new measure of vulnerability of a node in a complex network. The measure is based on the analogy in which the nodes of the network are represented by balls and the links are identified with springs. We define the measure as the node displacement, or the amplitude of vibration of each node, under fluctuation due to the thermal bath in which the network is supposed to be submerged. We prove exact relations among the thus defined node displacement, the information centrality and the Kirchhoff index. The relation between the first two suggests that the node displacement has a better resolution of the vulnerability than the information centrality, because the latter is the sum of the local node displacement and the node displacement averaged over the entire network.     

A modified evidential methodology of identifying influential nodes in weighted networks

How to identify influential nodes in complex networks is still an open hot issue. In the existing evidential centrality (EVC), node degree distribution in complex networks is not taken into consideration. In addition, the global structure information has also been neglected. In this paper, a new Evidential Semi-local Centrality (ESC) is proposed by modifying EVC in two aspects. Firstly, the Basic Probability Assignment (BPA) of degree generated by EVC is modified according to the actual degree distribution, rather than just following uniform distribution. BPA is the generation of probability in order to model uncertainty. Secondly, semi-local centrality combined with modified EVC is extended to be applied in weighted networks. Numerical examples are used to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed method.     

A model of the effects of authority on consensus formation in adaptive networks: Impact on network topology and robustness

Opinions of individuals in real social networks are arguably strongly influenced by external determinants, such as the opinions of those perceived to have the highest levels of authority. In order to model this, we have extended an existing model of consensus formation in an adaptive network by the introduction of a parameter representing each agent’s level of ‘authority’, based on their opinion relative to the overall opinion distribution. We found that introducing this model, along with a randomly varying opinion convergence factor, significantly impacts the final state of converged opinions and the number of interactions required to reach that state. We also determined the relationship between initial and final network topologies for this model, and whether the final topology is robust to node removals. Our results indicate firstly that the process of consensus formation with a model of authority consistently transforms the network from an arbitrary initial topology to one with distinct measurements in mean shortest path, clustering coefficient, and degree distribution. Secondly, we found that subsequent to the consensus formation process, the mean shortest path and clustering coefficient are less affected by both random and targeted node disconnection. Speculation on the relevance of these results to real world applications is provided.     

A self-consistent approach to measure preferential attachment in networks and its application to an inherent structure network

Preferential attachment is one possible way to obtain a scale-free network. We develop a self-consistent method to determine whether preferential attachment occurs during the growth of a network, and to extract the preferential attachment rule using time-dependent data. Model networks are grown with known preferential attachment rules to test the method, which is seen to be robust. The method is then applied to a scale-free inherent structure (IS) network, which represents the connections between minima via transition states on a potential energy landscape. Even though this network is static, we can examine the growth of the network as a function of a threshold energy (rather than time), where only those transition states with energies lower than the threshold energy contribute to the network. For these networks we are able to detect the presence of preferential attachment, and this helps to explain the ubiquity of funnels on potential energy landscapes. However, the scale-free degree distribution shows some differences from that of a model network grown using the obtained preferential attachment rules, implying that other factors are also important in the growth process.     

A matching-theoretic approach to resource allocation in D2D-enabled downlink NOMA cellular networks

This paper investigates the resource allocation problem in non-orthogonal multiple-access (NOMA) cellular networks underlaid with OMA-based device-to-device (D2D) communication. This network architecture enjoys the intrinsic features of NOMA and D2D communications; namely, spectral efficiency, massive connectivity, and low-latency. Despite these indispensable features, the combination of NOMA and D2D communications exacerbates the resource allocation problem in cellular networks due to the tight coupling among their constraints and conflict over access to shared resources. The aim of our work is to maximize the downlink network sum-rate, while meeting the minimum rate requirements of the cellular tier and underlay D2D communication, and incorporating interference management as well as other practical constraints. To this end, many-to-many matching and difference-of-convex programming are employed to develop a holistic sub-channels and power allocation algorithmic solution. In addition to analyzing the properties of the proposed solution, its performance is benchmarked against an existing solution and the traditional OMA-based algorithm. The proposed solution demonstrates superiority in terms of network sum-rate, users’ connectivity, minimum rate satisfaction, fairness, and interference management, while maintaining acceptable computational complexity.     

Influence of the variance of degree distributions on the evolution of cooperation in complex networks

We study how initial network structure affects the evolution of cooperation in a spatial prisoner’s dilemma game. The network structure is characterized by various statistical properties. Among those properties, we focus on the variance of the degree distribution, and inquire how it affects the evolution of cooperation by three methods of imitation. For every method, it was found that a scale-free network does not always promote the evolution of cooperation, and that there exists an appropriate value of the variance, at which cooperation is optimal.