Optimizing performance of self-regulating networks

Sometimes, data must be transferred over a dynamically changing network of routers and/or sensor-nodes, for instance the sensors in the Urban Flood project. It is possible to algorithmically give one network node more importance than another, for instance to rout more data through centrally located nodes, or by creating a hierarchical routing topology to minimize overhead. But in a complex and dynamically changing network, which nodes should we pick? No one knows. In this project you apply the idea of information processing to routing in dynamically changing complex networks. The goal is to rigorously quantify for each position in the network how influential it is, using the concept of information dissipation and a representative model of routing.