We consider networks of processes which interact with beeps. Various beeping models are used. The basic one, defined by Cornejo and Kuhn [CK10], assumes that a process can choose either to beep or to listen; if it listens it can distinguish between silence or the presence of at least one beep. The aim of this paper is the study of the resolution of paradigms such as collision detection, computation of the degree of a vertex, colouring, or 2-hop-colouring in the framework of beeping models. For each of these problems we present Las Vegas or Monte Carlo algorithms and we analyse their complexities expressed in terms of the number of slots. We present also efficient randomised emulations of more powerful beeping models on the basic one. We illustrate emulation procedures with an efficient degree computation algorithm in the basic beeping model; this algorithm was given initially in a more powerful model.
A new model that depicts a network of randomized finite state machines operating in an asynchronous environment is introduced. This model, that can be viewed as a hybrid of the message passing model and cellular automata is suitable for applying the distributed computing lens to the study of networks of sub-microprocessor devices, e.g., biological cellular networks and man-made nano-networks. Although the computation and communication capabilities of each individual device in the new model are, by design, much weaker than those of an abstract computer, we show that some of the most important and extensively studied distributed computing problems can still be solved efficiently.