Abstract: Communication and computer networks interconnect an increasing number and diversity of entities, such as mobile devices, sensors, wearable computers, and embedded systems. This trend poses new challenges to the design and operation of networking algorithms and protocols. In particular, the increased system dynamics requires adaptability, distributed operation, and autoconfiguration. One approach to these challenges is to increase the level of self-organization in networks, i.e. to accomplish an intended overall system behavior from local interactions between the individual entities.
In this talk, I focus on a specific aspect of self-organization in networks, namely on self-organized synchronization, as required for medium access, scheduling of sleep phases, and collaborative sensing, to give some examples. We illustrate some synchronization phenomena occurring in nature, explain the theory of pulse-coupled oscillators, and finally present a synchronization solution that has been developed for wireless networks.
Keywords: Selbstorganisation, Synchronisation, Gekoppelte Oszillatoren, Dynamische Systeme, Vernetzte Systeme
CV: Christian Bettstetter is professor and head of the Networked and Embedded Systems institute at the University of Klagenfurt. His main research and teaching interests are in mobile wireless networking, network theory, self-organization, and mobile robots. He is also scientific director and founder of Lakeside Labs GmbH, a research and innovation cluster on self-organizing networked systems.
He studied electrical engineering and information technology at the Technische Universität München (TUM), receiving the Dipl.-Ing. degree in 1998. After a research stay at the University of Notre Dame, Christian joined the institute of communication networks at TUM, where he was a research and teaching staff member until 2003. His doctoral thesis on mobility modeling, connectivity, and adaptive clustering in wireless ad hoc networks was awarded the Dr.-Ing (summa cum laude) degree in 2004. Before becoming a professor, Christian was a senior researcher at DoCoMo Euro-Labs for two years, doing research on medium access and topology aspects of ad hoc networks.
Christian and his team work on the design, modeling, and analysis of future networked communication systems, with a focus on mobile and wireless networking. Major expertise is on algorithms and protocols, stochastic modeling aspects, network theory, and architectures. Current projects address cooperative relaying, self-organized synchronization, and collaborative microdrones. Christian’s teaching portfolio includes various graduate courses on mobile networks and an undergraduate course on electromagnetism.
The publication record includes over 20 articles in journals, magazines, and books, and about 70 papers in refereed conference proceedings. Two of his publications received best paper awards at the IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference, and another one the 2004 outstanding paper award from the German Informationstechnische Gesellschaft (ITG). He also co-authored the Wiley textbook ‚GSM – Architecture, protocols and services.‘ His current h-index, being a measure for the visibility and impact of publications, is 29.
He currently serves as editor for ACM Mobile Computing and Communications Review, committee member of several IEEE and ACM conferences, and project reviewer for the European Commission.
