Dynamic Carrier-Assisted Routing in Mobile Networks

We propose to use node mobility to enhance routing capability in a mobile network. A dual-control planes model is presented, which includes the traditional S(stationary)-plane for message routing among stationary nodes using connection-based message routing. In addition, we introduce a new control plane, M(mobile)-plane, for trajectory control of mobile nodes. A message routing consists of a sequence of control plane switches, alternating between store-and-forward in the S-plane and store-carry-forward in the M-plane. Intra-plane and inter-plane communication is performed through contacts. In the M-plane, unlike most existing works that focus on two extremes of spectrums (random movement and tightly controlled movement), our approach focuses on loosely-controlled movement of mobile nodes to assist message routing in a store-carry-forward paradigm. The challenge lies in adapting the degree of control to support a certain degree of flexibility, such as using dynamic node trajectory to maximize route sharing to minimize the number of carriers, while ensuring some desirable global properties, such as short average-moving-distance and a small number of relays to increase network capacity