Tutorial 1: An introduction to distributed computing by mobile entities: agents, robots, sensors
Prof. Nicola Santoro (School of Computer Science, Carleton University, Canada)
http://people.scs.carleton.ca/~santoro/

Abstract: Distributed computing is the study of the computational and complexity issues arising in systems of autonomous computational entities interacting with each other (e.g. to solve a problem, to perform a task).

Traditionally the entities have been assumed to be stationary. However, there is a large and varied class of distributed environments where the interacting entities, autonomous and decentralized, are also mobile, and in some cases communication might not be explicit. They include for example: software mobile agents in communication networks, mobile sensors networks, and robotic swarms.

The realities of these entities are very different: robots and sensors are physical entities which operate in 2D or 3D spaces, while agents are software entities that operate in networked environments. In spite of their differences, some of the key problems and critical issues are very similar, suggesting the presence of common underlying principles.

This tutorial will provide an introduction on how computations can be performed by autonomous mobile entities, under what conditions and at what costs, drawing examples from all three settings: mobile agents, autonomous robots, and mobile sensor networks.

Short bio: Nicola Santoro is Distinguished Research Professor at Carleton University's School of Computer Science. Initially interested in philosophy, he is one of the first computer science graduates in Italy (Laurea - Pisa 1974), discovering the beauty of algorithms and data structures. During his PhD on information structure at Waterloo (Ph.D. - Waterloo 1979), he discovers the net (then called ARPANET) and email, and starts thinking in distributed terms. Involved in distributed computing since the beginning, he contributes seminal papers focusing on the algorithmic aspects. He is the author of the book Design and Analysis of Distributed Algorithms (Wiley 2007) and co-author of the forthcoming book Distributed Computing by Oblivious Mobile Robots (Morgan & Claypool 2012). He has been awarded the 2010 SIROCCO Prize for Innovation in Distributed Computing. His current research interests are distributed computations by mobile entities (agents, robots, sensors) and in time-varying networks (delay-tolerant, vehicular).