Helper Node Trajectory Control for Connection Assurance in Proactive Mobile Wireless Networks

Wireless networks that do not require pre-deployed infrastructures are ideal for applications such as disaster relieve, search and rescue, and small tactical unit operations. However, since the type of information exchange in these applications typically have stringent delay requirements, existing ad hoc wireless networks that provide best-effort service cannot satisfy the service demands. We propose a proactive mobile wireless network paradigm - one that proactively maintains network connections in order to provide assured delivery for applications with high quality of service (QoS) demands. The proactive techniques include node localization, trajectory prediction, judicious insertion of helper nodes, and helper node trajectory control In addition to presenting an architectural framework for proactive mobile wireless networks, we describe two helper node trajectory control schemes. Through simulations, we show that with proper trajectory control, even a few helper nodes can significantly improve network connectivity under typical operating scenarios.