Experiments and considerations on Reaction-Diffusion based Pattern Generation in a Wireless Sensor Network

Taking into account requirements of sensor networks, we need fully-distributed and self-organizing control mechanisms which are scalable to the size of a network, robust to failures of sensor nodes, and adaptive to different and dynamically changing topology and changes in wireless communication environment. To accomplish this goal, our research group focuses on behavior of biological systems, which inherently are scalable, adaptive, and robust. In this paper, we first verify the practicality of control mechanisms adopting a reaction diffusion equation, which explains emergence of patterns on the surface of body of fishes and mammals, and then propose two methods for faster pattern generation to save energy consumption. From simulation and practical experiments on a prototype, it was shown that a stable pattern could be generated in a wireless sensor network in several minutes, even when packets were lost for collisions in wireless communication.