Collaboration Improves the Connectivity of Wireless Networks

— In the standard approach to studying connectivity, a physical layer is assumed that allows direct transmission between neighbors within some fixed distance. The graph resulting from connecting all such pairs of neighbors reveals clusters of nodes within which communication is possible. However, future wireless networks will provide a physical layer where nodes that are connected can collaboratively search for more connections via simultaneous RF transmission and reception, thus adding connections that are not possible in the traditional noncollaborative model. The purpose of this paper is to introduce this collaborative network model and to characterize its asymptotic connectivity properties for one characterization (noncoherent power summing) of the physical layer collaboration. In the case of sparse ad hoc networks, simulations show that an infinite cluster will emerge in the infinite two-dimensional plane at a node density roughly 20% of that required in non-collaborative ad ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: INFOCOM
• Authors: Sanquan Song, Dennis Goeckel, Donald F. Towsley
• Keywords: Ad Hoc Network, Asymptotic Connectivity Properties, Communications, INFOCOM 2006, Physical Layer