A message ferrying approach for data delivery in sparse mobile ad hoc networks

Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) provide rapidly deployable and self-configuring network capacity required in many critical applications, e.g., battlefields, disaster relief and wide area sensing. In this paper we study the problem of efficient data delivery in sparse MANETs where network partitions can last for a significant period. Previous approaches rely on the use of either long range communication which leads to rapid draining of nodes’ limited batteries, or existing node mobility which results in low data delivery rates and large delays. In this paper, we describe a Message Ferrying (MF) approach to address the problem. MF is a mobility-assisted approach which utilizes a set of special mobile nodes called message ferries (or ferries for short) to provide communication service for nodes in the deployment area. The main idea behind the MF approach is to introduce non-randomness in the movement of nodes and exploit such non-randomness to help deliver data. We study two variat...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: MOBIHOC
• Authors: Wenrui Zhao, Mostafa H. Ammar, Ellen W. Zegura
• Keywords: Data Delivery, MF Approach, MOBIHOC 2004, Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, Wireless Networks