Design and implementation of applications over delay tolerant networks for disaster and battlefield environment

In disaster/battlefield applications, there may not be any centralized network that provides a mechanism for different nodes to connect with each other to share important data. In such cases, we can take advantage of an opportunistic network involving a substantial number of mobile devices that can communicate with each other using Bluetooth and Google Nearby Connections API(it uses Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and Wi-Fi hotspots) when they are close to each other. These devices referred to as nodes form a Delay Tolerant Network (DTN), also known as an opportunistic network. As suggested by its name, DTN can tolerate delays and significant loss of data while forwarding a message from source to destination using store and forward paradigm. In DTN, it is of critical importance that the network is not completely flooded and also the message is not tampered or corrupted and readable only to the destined node. Three algorithms have been implemented in the Android platform. The first algorithm [1] focuses on intelligent data transfer based on each node\u27s interest and encourages each node to participate in data transfer by providing incentives and keeping track of the trustworthiness of each node. The second algorithm [2] focuses on the security of the transferred data by fragmenting both data- and key-shares with some redundancy and the destination node can resurrect the original data from the predefined minimum key- and data-shares. The third algorithm focusses on using object detection models and interest-based authorization using [3] to securely transfer and access data across DTN. The corrupted nodes are identified by using one-way keychain hashes created by source/relay nodes for a message which are validated at the destination node --Abstract, page iii