An analytical study of the communication cost of data-centric storage in mobile ad hoc networks

Data-centric storage is a fundamental data management paradigm in wireless multihop networks. Originally introduced for wireless sensor networks, existing approaches are in principle also applicable in mobile ad hoc networks. However, the mobility of such networks strongly impacts storage performance in general and communication cost in particular. While this is recognized in the research community, a detailed account of the performance in terms of communication cost is lacking. In this article, we provide a detailed study of the communication cost of previously proposed data-centric storage mechanisms that are viable in mobile ad hoc networks. We first introduce a comprehensive analytical model that suitably characterizes the communication cost of data-centric storage mechanisms from the literature. We then use our model to evaluate the considered mechanisms in comparative terms as a function of relevant system parameters, including the amount of considered data, the frequency of data updates and queries, and node speed. Our results give a detailed account of data-centric storage performance and are able to identify the most suitable ranges of operation for each of the considered mechanisms.