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Call for Papers: Spatial Computing Workshop 2012 @ AAMAS 2012
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in conjunction with the 11th International Conference on Autonomous
Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS 2012)
Valencia, Spain, June 2012


Organizers
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Jacob Beal (BBN Technologies, USA)
Stefan Dulman (Delft University, the Netherlands),
Jean-Louis Giavitto (CNRS & IRCAM, France)
Antoine Spicher (University Paris-Est Creteil, France)


Important Dates
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Submission deadline: March 4, 2012
Acceptance notification: March 27, 2012
Camera-ready papers: April 10, 2012


Overview
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Many self-organizing or self-adaptive multiagent 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;
- the “functional goals” of the system are generally defined in terms
of the system’s spatial structure.

In multiagent systems, spatial relationships (location, region,
frontier, neighborhood, obstruction, field, basin, communication,
diffusion, propagation) are used to organize the interactions between
agents where their location is important for the problem. 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”. 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 multi agent systems and 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.

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;
- Relationships between agent interaction and spatial organizations;
- Theoretical and practical limitations arising from spatial
properties;
- 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);
- Theoretical and empirical analysis of spatial applications.


Format, Submission and Publication
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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.

Workshop pre-proceedings will be published in a bundle with the main
conference proceedings. Post-proceedings publication in a journal is
planed. Papers should be no longer than 6 pages in the standard "IEEE
Transaction" two-column format:

http://www.ieee.org/web/publications/authors/transjnl/index.html

All manuscripts should be submitted in PDF form with the EasyChair
submissions system at:
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=scw2012.

For more information, refer to the workshop web site:
http://scw12.spatial-computing.org

Questions should be addresses to: scw12@spatial-computing.org