Contact infection epidemics in a random geometric network using cellular automata model
Abstract
Cellular Automata have been used in biological modeling throughout the years. Epidemic models have also been done to study the process of the spread of infections so that preventive methods may be implemented properly. In this study, we use two-dimensional cellular automata with periodic boundary conditions to mimic random geometric graphs in simulating the spread of infection in a system. By varying the density of the population, the average cluster size and the number of infected individuals at infinite iterations were examined. We find that the existence of epidemics is dependent on the density of individuals in the system. There also exists a critical density wherein the epidemic will spread, which is related to the average cluster size of clusters formed in the lattice.