Modeling and evaluation of traffic flow and availability for mobile ad hoc networks

Recently mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are attracting increasing attention. Much work has been done by using various simulations tools. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of MANETs by analytic modeling. Based on two-dimensional Markov processes, several analytical models for packet traffic flow and connection availability are built by considering the impact of various types of failures. Some interesting performance metrics are then determined, e.g., steady state path availability (SSPA), mean end-to-end packet delay (EEPD), and loss of packets due to unavailability (LPU). The developed models and metrics are expected to serve as the first step for performance evaluation and guide for protocol design of MANETs