Network Size Estimation Using Distributed Orthogonalization

We present novel distributed algorithms for estimating the number of nodes in a wireless sensor network without any a-priori knowledge or node preferences. The algorithms originate from distributed forms of Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization algorithms where the goal is to distributively find a set of orthogonal vectors. Using concepts from linear algebra, by finding the number of independent (orthogonal) vectors, we also find the number of nodes in a network.