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In this paper, we present a novel packet forwarding scheme for wireless ad hoc networks --- “Direction” Forwarding (DFR). Popular routing protocols such as DSDV and AODV use “predecessor” based forwarding, namely, the packet is forwarded to the predecessor on the shortest path from the destination, as advertised during the last update. Predecessor forwarding may fail in large scale networks where the routing update rate must be reduced by the need to maintain link O/H below reasonable levels. However, if nodes are mobile, routing table entries may become “stale” very rapidly. DFR is designed to overcome the “stale” routing table entry problem. When the routing update arrives, the node remembers not only the predecessor delivering the update, but also the update “direction” of arrival. When a packet must be forwarded to destination, it is first forwarded to the node ID found in the routing table. If the node has moved and ID forwarding fails, the packet is “direction” forwarded to the “most promising” node in the indicated direction. At first glance, DFR seems to combine the features of table based routing and geo-routing. However, direction forwarding differs from geo-routing in that the direction is learned from the routing updates, instead of being computed from the destination coordinates. Thus, DFR does not require destination coordinates, a global coordinate system, or a Geo Location Server. In the paper we show the application of DFR to a scalable routing scheme, LANMAR. Through simulation experiments we show that DFR substantially enhances LANMAR performance in large, mobile network scenarios.

In this paper we consider the problem of constructing a coordinate system in a sensor network where location information is not available. To this purpose we introduce the Virtual Coordinate assignment protocol (VCap) which defines a virtual coordinate system based on hop distances. As compared to other approaches, VCap is simple and have very little requirements in terms of communication and memory overheads. We compare by simulations the performances of greedy routing using our virtual coordinate system with the one using the physical coordinates. Results show that the virtual coordinate system can be used to efficently support geographic routing.

The problem of identifying the faulty units in regularly interconnected systems is addressed. The diagnosis is based on mutual tests of units, which are adjacent in the "system graph" describing the interconnection structure. This paper evaluates an algorithm named EDARS (Efficient Diagnosis Algorithm for Regular Structures). The diagnosis provided by this algorithm is provably correct and almost complete with high probability. Diagnosis correctness is guaranteed if the cardinality of the actual fault set is below a "syndrome-dependent bound," asserted by the algorithm itself along with the diagnosis. Evaluation of EDARS relies upon extensive simulation which covered grids, hypercubes, and cube-connected cycles (CCC). Simulation experiments showed that the degree of the system graph has a strong impact over diagnosis completeness and affects the "syndrome-dependent bound," ensuring correctness. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of the performance of EDARS, with hypercubes and CCCs on one side and grids of the same size and degree on the other side, showed that diameter and bisection width of the system graph also influence the diagnosis correctness and completeness.

Background The proliferation of nuclear technology in the politically volatile Middle East greatly increases the likelihood of a catastrophic nuclear war. It is widely accepted, while not openly declared, that Israel has nuclear weapons, and that Iran has enriched enough nuclear material to build them. The medical consequences of a nuclear exchange between Iran and Israel in the near future are envisioned, with a focus on the distribution of casualties in urban environments. Methods Model estimates of nuclear war casualties employed ESRI's ArcGIS 9.3, blast and prompt radiation were calculated using the Defense Nuclear Agency's WE program, and fallout radiation was calculated using the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's (DTRA's) Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability (HPAC) V404SP4, as well as custom GIS and database software applications. Further development for thermal burn casualties was based on Brode, as modified by Binninger, to calculate thermal fluence. ESRI ArcGISTM programs were used to calculate affected populations from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's LandScanTM 2007 Global Population Dataset for areas affected by thermal, blast and radiation data. Results Trauma, thermal burn, and radiation casualties were thus estimated on a geographic basis for three Israeli and eighteen Iranian cities. Nuclear weapon detonations in the densely populated cities of Iran and Israel will result in an unprecedented millions of numbers of dead, with millions of injured suffering without adequate medical care, a broad base of lingering mental health issues, a devastating loss of municipal infrastructure, long-term disruption of economic, educational, and other essential social activity, and a breakdown in law and order. Conclusions This will cause a very limited medical response initially for survivors in Iran and Israel. Strategic use of surviving medical response and collaboration with international relief could be expedited by the predicted casualty distributions and locations. The consequences for health management of thermal burn and radiation patients is the worst, as burn patients require enormous resources to treat, and there will be little to no familiarity with the treatment of radiation victims. Any rational analysis of a nuclear war between Iran and Israel reveals the utterly unacceptable outcomes for either nation.

International audience; In this paper, we consider the problem of gathering mobile agents in a graph in the presence of mobile faults that can appear anywhere in the graph. Faults are modeled as a malicious mobile agent that attempts to block the path of the honest agents and prevents them from gathering. The problem has been previously studied by a subset of the authors for asynchronous agents in the ring and in the grid graphs. Here, we consider synchronous agents and we present new algorithms for the unoriented ring graphs that solve strictly more cases than the ones solvable with asynchronous agents. We also show that previously known solutions for asynchronous agents in the oriented ring can be improved when agents are synchronous. We finally provide a proof-of-concept implementation of the synchronous algorithms using real Lego Mindstorms EV3 robots.