Modeling Interference in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

The recent increasing interest in ad hoc networks has motivated the study and development of interference models capable of capturing the intrinsic characteristics of this kind of network, such as the lack of a central coordination and the consequent distributed nature of some of the network functions (e.g., medium access control and routing protocols). As a consequence, a myriad of interference models for ad hoc networks can be found in the literature, that describe the effects of interference at different layers and with different levels of detail. Some of these models describe interference as a random process whose statistics depend mainly on physical layer parameters, and are better suited for the analysis of issues related to the physical layer. Other models focus on the effects of interference at higher layers, and are more appropriate when the analysis of network-related issues is of interest. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of interference models for wireless ad hoc networks, emphasizing their domains of application, illustrated with examples. The interference models are presented in this survey from the perspective of the radio capture phenomenon, resulting in a unified view of interference models, which may be helpful when selecting the appropriate model for a given purpose.