| In this dissertation, we explore the characteristics of social relations and interactions among people in designing models for dynamic sensor networks. We deal with issues that have not received much attention in the sensor network literature. Three main contributions are described in this dissertation. First, we propose to control the dissemination behavior of information in terms of distance, coverage area, and direction in sensor networks. For this purpose, two novel social-inspired approaches are presented, namely, Strong-Tie-Based-Forwarding (STBF) and Weak-Tie-Based-Forwarding (WTBF).;Second, we introduce a mechanism for estimating memory requirements in a sensor network. This estimation can be performed by defining the number of sensors that each sensor in the network can keep track of and characterize as strong and weak relations. To this end, we present another novel social-inspired approach called Weighted Tie-Strength (WTS) for distinguishing and measuring the tie strength among network sensors. WTS is based on three indicators that are inspired from the characteristics of social encounters among people: frequency of encounters, duration of encounters, and regularity of encounters. We then exploit WTS in estimating memory requirements and defining the approximate number of strong and weak ties that each sensor should maintain in memory.;Lastly, after the estimation of the number of strong and weak ties that each sensor should know, we now are able to use predefined memory sizes of memory at each sensor node. However, this size should be efficiently managed when it becomes full and a replacement process should be involved to remove and add item(s) as needed. Therefore, we present a novel social-inspired strategy called Memory Anticipatory Strategy (MAS)for memory management, by which an item(s) in the memory can be replaced with a new one from the currently encountered sensors. This strategy prevents removing items that are likely to be important to a particular sensor. The MAS strategy uses two social concepts, namely, social capital in sociology and preferential return in human mobility. |
