Quantifying Network Partitioning in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

The performance of distributed algorithms in mobile ad hoc networks is strongly influenced by the connectivity of the network. In cases where the connectivity is low, network partitioning occurs. The mobility and the density of network nodes as well as the communication technology are fundamental properties that have a large impact on partitioning. A detailed characterization of this behavior helps to improve the performance of distributed algorithms. In this paper we introduce a set of metrics that characterize partitioning in mobile ad hoc networks. Based on an extensive simulation study we show the impact of node mobility, density and transmission range on the proposed metrics for a wide range of network scenarios.