Hybrid Approach for Routing in Clustered DTNs with Multiple Message Ferrying

Abstract

The mobile wireless research community has invested in the development of routing algorithms and protocols for two distinct environments. The Mobile Ad hoc NETwork (MANET) environment is generally assumed to contain relatively dense nodes connected by multi-hop paths, where disconnection is rare. The disruption tolerant network (DTN) environment is generally assumed to contain relatively sparse nodes that are frequently disconnected. Different environment in which clusters of nodes have MANET like dense connectivity, while there is DTN-like sparse connectivity between clusters was investigated. The main focus of this work is to best utilize the gateway nodes, develop various algorithms for data aggregation at the gateway nodes and transmission scheduling between gateways and the ferry in mobile nodes. To further improve performance, design algorithms to customize ferry routes according to node location and traffic condition can be introduced.