Understanding the Tolerance of Dynamic Networks: A Routing-Oriented Approach

Research on delay tolerant networks (DTNs) has brought about a plethora of routing algorithms targeted at networks with different mobility patterns. However, few research works have been done towards developing methods to understand certain characteristics of DTNs, especially those with predictable characteristics (e.g., predictable mobility). As a step towards closing this gap, we devise an efficient scheme to study the tolerance of a DTN-like dynamic network in terms of delay. Our work is from the viewpoint of routing, and is based on theories in evolving graphs [1]. In this paper, we define the solvability of a DTN in terms of delay and show that it is non-trivial to examine it in the scope of a DTN through examples and analysis. We then propose both centralized and distributed solutions to this problem. Through extensive simulations based on real traces from UMass DieselNet [2] we study the solvability of both kinds of networks using approaches proposed in this paper. Finally, we briefly discuss the scenarios to which our work could be applied.