Investigating the Performance Impact of Shared Host Capacity in Ad Hoc Networks

Host resources (e.g., CPU time and buffer space) in mobile ad hoc networks must be shared between the devices own applications and networking functions, such as routing and packet forwarding on behalf of remote nodes. Previous work has ignored the performance conflicts that arise due to the need to share host resources. In this work, using both analytical and statistical-based empirical analysis, we investigate the conflicting roles that the host must serve and provide the first detailed study on the impact that host capacity has on the performance of ad hoc networks. The results of this study demonstrate that host capacity has a significant impact on network performance (e.g., throughput drops by up to 74.5% depending upon available host capacities, as shown in our case study) and thus should be considered in the protocol and system design process.