Call for papers

Spatial Computing Workshop 2011 (affiliated with SASO2011)
October 3, 2011, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
http://scw11.spatial-computing.org/


Description
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Many self-organizing or self-adaptive systems are "spatial computers" -
collections of local computational devices distributed through a physical space,
in which:
- the difficulty of moving information between any two devices is strongly
dependent on the distance between them, and
- the "functional goals" of the system are generally defined in terms of the
system's spatial structure.

Systems that can be viewed as spatial computers are abundant, both natural and
man-made. For example, in wireless sensor networks and animal or robot swarms,
inter-agent communication network topologies are determined by the distance
between devices, while the agent collectives as a whole solve spatially-defined
problems like "analyze and react to spatial temperature variance" or "surround
and destroy an enemy." Similarly, in reconfigurable microchip platforms, moving
data between adjacent logic blocks is much faster than moving it across the
chip, which in turn favors problems with spatial structure like stream
processing. In biological embryos, each developing cell's behavior is controlled
only by its local chemical and physical environment, but the eventual structure
of the organism is a global property of the cellular arrangement. Moreover, a
variety of successful established techniques for self-organization and
self-adaptation arise from explicitly spatial metaphors, e.g., self-healing
gradients.

On the other hand, not all spatially distributed systems are spatial computers.
The Internet and peer-to-peer overlay networks may not in general best be
considered as spatial computers, both because their communication graphs have
little relation to the Euclidean geometry in which the participating devices are
embedded, and because most applications for them are explicitly defined
independent of network structure. Spatial computers, in contrast, tend to have
more structure, with specific constraints and capabilities that can be used in
the design and analysis of algorithms.

The goal of this workshop is to explicitly identify the idea of "spatial
computing" as a theme in self-organizing and self-adaptive systems, and further
to develop the study of spatial computation as a subject in its own right. We
believe that progress towards identifying common principles, techniques, and
research directions - and consolidating the substantial progress that is already
being made - will benefit all of the fields in which spatial computing takes
place. And, as the impact of spatial computing is recognized in many areas, we
hope to set up frameworks to ensure portability and cross-fertilization between
solutions in the various domains.


Submission, Format and Proceedings
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We are soliciting submissions on any aspect of spatial computing. Examples of
topics of interest include, but are by no means limited to:
- Languages for programming spatial computers and describing spatial tasks and
patterns
- Methods for compiling global programs to local rules that produce the desired
global effect
- Characterization of spatial self-organization phenomena as algorithmic
building blocks
- Characterization of error in spatial computers (e.g., error from approximating
continuous space with networks of devices)
- Analysis of tradeoffs between system parameters (e.g., communication radius
vs. device memory consumption)
- Studies of the relationship between time, propagation of information through
the spatial computer, and computational complexity
- Application of spatial computing principles to novel areas, or generalization
of area-specific techniques
- Device motion in spatial computing algorithms (e.g. the relationship between
robot speed and gradient accuracy in multi-robot swarms)


We encourage authors to submit papers in one of two formats:
1. Papers that develop "unifying" principles or techniques in spatial computing
- these papers should be suitable in format and quality for a conference track,
but avoid incrementalism.
2. Papers that demonstrate how a technique or problem from a specific area of
application can usefully be generalized - these papers should be a combination
of review paper and position paper, presenting the material from one area in a
form comprehensible to researchers of another area, as well as a coherent
technical argument generalizing the material to other areas. Although our
interests are broad, we discourage authors from submitting reviews of
particular application areas unless the paper explicitly connects the material
to the larger technical issues of spatial computing.


Papers should be no longer than 6 pages in standard IEEE two-column format. All
manuscripts should be submitted in PDF form to scw11@spatial-computing.org.
Please direct all questions to scw11@spatial-computing.org.
Workshop proceedings will be published and archived by the IEEE.


Important Dates
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July 4, 2011: Submission deadline
July 25, 2011: Acceptance notification
August 18, 2011: Early registration deadline
August 25, 2011: Camera ready version of accepted papers
October 3, 2011: Workshop held at IEEE SASO in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.


Organizers
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Dr. Jacob Beal (BBN Technologies, USA)
Dr. Stefan Dulman (Delft Univ., the Netherlands)
Prof. Olivier Michel (Univ. Paris Est, France)
Dr. Antoine Spicher (Univ. Paris Est, France)


Program Committee
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Dr. Michel Banatre (Inria, France)
Prof. Cristian Borcea (New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA)
Dr. Sven Brueckner (Vector Research Center, USA)
Dr. Nikolaus Correll (University of Colorado Boulder, USA)
Prof. Shlomi Dolev (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)
Prof. Jerome Durand-Lose (Universite d'Orleans)
Dr. Jean-Louis Giavitto (Institut de Recherche Coordonnee Acoustique Musique)
Prof. Frederic Gruau (University Paris Sud)
Prof. David Hales (University of Bologna, Italy)
Prof. Mark Jelasity (Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Univ. of Szeged, Hungary)
Dr. Luidnel Maignan (INRIA Saclay, France)
Ulrik Pagh Schultz (University of Southern Denmark)
Prof. Christof Teuscher (Portland State University)
Kyle Usbeck (BBN Technologies)
Dr. Danny Weyns (K.U.Leuven, Belgium)
Dr. Eiko Yoneki (University of Cambridge, UK)
Prof. Franco Zambonelli (Universita di Modena)