Toward modeling ad hoc networks: current situation and future direction

• Published in: IEEE wireless communications Vol. 20; no. 6; pp. 51 - 58
• Main Authors: Jiajia Liu, Nishiyama, Hiroki, Kato, Nei, Kumagai, Tomoaki, Takahara, Atsushi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.12.2013; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Ad hoc networks; Analytical models; Applied sciences; Computer science; control theory; systems; Computer systems and distributed systems. User interface; Control system analysis; Control theory. Systems; Equipments and installations; Exact sciences and technology; Graphical models; Interference; Mobile communication; Mobile radiocommunication systems; Radiocommunications; Receivers; Software; Telecommunications; Telecommunications and information theory; Wireless communication; Performance evaluation; Mobile radiocommunication; Spatial cognition; Mobility; Review; Information delivery; Modeling; Heterogeneity; Spatial distribution; Consumer; Wireless network; Performance analysis; Ad hoc network; Mobile computing
• ISSN: 1536-1284; 1558-0687
• DOI: 10.1109/MWC.2013.6704474

The last decade has witnessed a tremendous increase in both the number of mobile devices and also the consumer demand for mobile data communication. As a consequence, networking technologies are shifting from traditional highly centralized toward future organically distributed so as to meet such great demand. As the most general networking architecture, ad hoc network has long been regarded as the most challenging to design and quantify, due to the possible hybrid component settings and heterogeneous node behaviors there. Toward this end, we review the current state of the art of analytical models and techniques developed for performance analysis in ad hoc networks. Specifically, we discuss modeling techniques related to the fundamental topics in ad hoc network research: node mobility, wireless interference, node spatial distribution, and information delivery process. Besides discussions of advantages and limitations of available models, promising future research directions are also outlined.