Temporal stability for dynamic network relay sets

Distributed relay set election instability within mobile networks can cause backbone topology changes that affect the performance of both unicast and multicast data routing algorithms. We discuss stability improvements to such relay set election by adding a “resistance to change” weighting factor to help reduce change in election results. In particular, we examine a proposed extension to the Essential Connected Dominating Set (ECDS) algorithm that has been specified for use by both present mobile ad hoc network unicast and multicast protocols. We demonstrate temporal stability improvements in the ECDS relay set membership that can be achieved with a simple modification to the election algorithm. Our results are particularly important when dealing with frequently changing election metrics represented in the priority field such as density or link quality as a weight metric. By using several mobile models of networks undergoing link quality fluctuations we demonstrate significant improvements in stability of the backbone set. Our results also indicate that we can maintain good stability results while maintaining a small relay set membership size as compared to the unmodified algorithm.