WPR.11 - Opportunistic networks

Objectives 

This WP will address the emerging paradigm of opportunistic communication, which enable nodes and user devices to self-configure and exploit resources in extremely dynamic networks. Due to the numerous emerging opportunistic networking applications, such as Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs), Packet Switched Networks (PSNs), Delay-Tolerant Networks (DTNs), etc.,  strategies that can enable effective data communication in such challenging networking environments have become increasingly appealing. This paradigm encompasses features and methods that are especially suitable in both disconnected environments, in which islands of connected devices suddenly appear, disappear and reconfigure dynamically, and pervasive networking scenarios, where epidemic data exchanges occur among mobile devices in temporary proximity. This also includes techniques that exploit time-varying channel conditions and stochastically maximize the system performance (for given QoS requirements).

In this context, the objectives of this WP is to create  a new European research forum,  starting from the partners’ current know-how, to study opportunistic networks which represent one of the most interesting evolutions of MANETs.

Description of work

Task TR11.1: Properties and requirements of opportunistic networks

The aim of this Task is the identification of the characteristics and properties of opportunistic networks. To achieve the objectives of this activity, the partners participating in the WP will share the common knowledge on this field and identify the issues which have major significance in the area. A particular attention will be devoted to the definition of common approach to the integrated work to be carried to fill the research gap in the field. Specifically, this activity will provide the guidelines to identify common frameworks/models for algorithm analysis and evaluation, performance-metric development and benchmarking, comparison between competing solutions.

Task TR11.2: Algorithms and techniques for opportunistic networks

Opportunistic networks are a type of challenged networks  where communication opportunities (contacts) are intermittent, an end-to-end path between the source and the destination may have never existed, and disconnection and reconnection is common. Opportunistic networks rely on cooperation among nodes to build a route between two nodes wishing to communicate. To this aim, traditional MANET and Internet communication techniques cannot be directly applied but they must be adapted to the dynamic scenarios and to the novel applications which characterize opportunistic networks. In this perspective, this task will address some specific aspects that are relevant to the adaptation of traditional approaches to the opportunistic communication paradigm.

A (non-exhaustive) list of these research issues is:

• mobility characterization and modeling of intermittent dynamics;
• localization and tracking;
• routing and forwarding, including epidemic, coding-based, and contextual-aware schemes;
• opportunistic resource discovery for peer-to-peer applications;
• experimental activities, including testbeds and simulators.