Optimal Buffer Management Policies for Delay Tolerant Networks

—Delay Tolerant Networks are wireless networks where disconnections may occur frequently due to propagation phenomena, node mobility, and power outages. Propagation delays may also be long due to the operational environment (e.g. deep space, underwater). In order to achieve data delivery in such challenging networking environments, researchers have proposed the use of store-carry-and-forward protocols: there, a node may store a message in its buffer and carry it along for long periods of time, until an appropriate forwarding opportunity arises. Additionally, multiple message replicas are often propagated to increase delivery probability. This combination of long-term storage and replication imposes a high storage overhead on untethered nodes (e.g. handhelds). Thus, efficient buffer management policies are necessary to decide which messages should be discarded, when node buffers are operated close to their capacity. In this paper, we propose efficient buffer management policies for ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: SECON
• Authors: Amir Krifa, Chadi Barakat, Thrasyvoulos Spyropoulos
• Keywords: Buffer Management, Buffer Management Policies, Communications, Efficient Buffer Management, SECON 2008