Distributed Allocation of Workflow Tasks in MANETs

While most workflows and WfMSs today are de- signed under the assumption that the participants are connected to each other across a stable wired net- work, the jump to a scenario where participants are connected to each other across more dynamic net- works e.g., mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) re- quires novel distribution and management schemes in order to make the WfMS work. In this paper, we de- scribe a process for the allocation of workflow tasks in MANETs where there are no centralized entities, hosts are physically mobile, communication links are frequently interrupted, and spatiotemporal considera- tions become increasingly important. Our solution is a distributed process that uses a combination of heuris- tics and constraints to arrive at allocation decisions. An evaluation of our approach is also presented.