Optimal selection of aggregation locations for participatory sensing by mobile cyber-physical systems

Mobile cyber-physical systems entail large volumes of data collected by various sensors and cameras embedded in vehicles and mobile devices. Participatory sensing is a model widely encouraged by cyber-physical systems (CPS) to provide a smart knowledge base to consumers using various sensed data contributed by voluntary participants. Aggregation is a viable approach to convert the sensed data into a usable form. An efficient way to perform aggregation is to divide the network into a number of geographical regions, called aggregation regions. In this paper, we propose a novel mechanism to determine aggregation regions based on the location of Access Points (APs). Besides, we propose a strategy to determine the optimal location of aggregation that minimizes the delay of dissemination of sensed data. 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.