Modeling spatial node density in waypoint mobility

This paper introduces a modeling framework to analyze spatial node density in mobile networks under “waypoint”-like mobility regimes. The proposed framework is based on a set of first order ordinary differential equations (ODEs) that take as parameters (1) the probability of going from one subregion of the mobility domain to another and (2) the rate at which a node decides to leave a given subregion. We validate our model by using it to describe the steady-state behavior of real user mobility recorded by GPS traces in different scenarios. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first node density modeling framework generic enough that can be applied to any “waypoint”-based mobility regime.