Maximum entropy based randomized routing in data-centric networks

Recently, there are increasing efforts to define new protocols and architectures for data-centric networking that do not rely on the addresses of the individual network nodes. In that case, queries are usually disseminated by flooding throughout the network until the node with the requested content is found. However, flooding always imposes an additional burden on the network since many unnecessary requests are circulated, particularly in the case of energy-constrained systems. In this paper, we examine the feasibility of a more lightweight search method by using a random walk in the network and investigate the possibility of a better load balancing through a maximum entropy random walk. We perform simulation studies and analyze the performance compared to the general random walk and flooding mechanisms in terms of search time and energy per query. We conclude that under suitable topologies the maximum entropy random walk is a viable alternative to flooding.