Neighbour coverage: a dynamic probabilistic route discovery for mobile ad hoc networks

Blind flooding is extensively use in ad hoc routing protocols for on-demand route discovery, where a mobile node blindly rebroadcasts received route request (RREQ) packets until a route to a particular destination is established. This can potentially lead to high channel contention, causing redundant retransmissions and thus excessive packet collisions in the network. Such a phenomenon induces what is known as broadcast storm problem, which has been shown to greatly increase the network communication overhead and end-to-end delay. In this paper, we show that the deleterious impact of such a problem can be reduced if measures are taken during the dissemination of RREQ packets. We propose a generic probabilistic method for route discovery, that is simple to implement and can significantly reduce the overhead associated with the dissemination of RREQs. Our analysis reveals that equipping AODV with probabilistic route discovery can result in significant reduction of routing control overhead while achieving good throughput

Encounter gossip: a high coverage broadcast protocol for MANET

PhD ThesisMobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) allow deployment of mobile wireless devices or nodes in a range of environments without any fixed infrastructure and hence at a minimal setup cost. Broadcast support that assures a high coverage (i.e., a large fraction of nodes receiving a broadcast) is essential for hosting user applications, and is also non-trivial to achieve due to the nature of devices and mobility. We propose Encounter Gossip, a novel broadcast protocol, which holds minimal state and is unaware of network topology. Coverage obtained can be made arbitrarily close to 1 at a moderate cost of extra message tra c, even in partition-prone networks. Under certain simplifying assumptions, it is shown that a high coverage is achieved by making a total of O(n ln n) broadcasts, where n is the number of nodes, and the time to propagate a message is O(ln n). The e ect of various network parameters on the protocol performance is examined. We then propose modifications to minimise the number of redundant transmissions without compromising the achieved coverage. Two approaches are pursued: timer based and history based. The e ectiveness of each of these approaches is assessed through an extensive set of simulation experiments in the context of two mobility models. Specifically, we introduce a new heuristic alpha policy which achieves significant reduction in redundancy with negligible reduction in coverage. A generalisation to multiple broadcasts proceeding in parallel is proposed and the protocol is refined to reduce problems that can occur due to the effects of high mobility when transmitting a large number of messages. Finally, we implement and validate Encounter Gossip in the context of a real-life mobile ad-hoc network. All these investigations suggest that the protocol, together with the proposed modifications and re nements, is suited to MANETs of varying degrees of node densities and speeds

An efficient counter-based broadcast scheme for mobile ad hoc networks

In mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), broadcasting plays a fundamental role, diffusing a message from a given source node to all the other nodes in the network. Flooding is the simplest and commonly used mechanism for broadcasting in MANETs, where each node retransmits every uniquely received message exactly once. Despite its simplicity, it however generates redundant rebroadcast messages which results in high contention and collision in the network, a phenomenon referred to as broadcast storm problem. Pure probabilistic approaches have been proposed to mitigate this problem inherent with flooding, where mobile nodes rebroadcast a message with a probability p which can be fixed or computed based on the local density. However, these approaches reduce the number of rebroadcasts at the expense of reachability. On the other hand, counter-based approaches inhibit a node from broadcasting a packet based on the number of copies of the broadcast packet received by the node within a random access delay time. These schemes achieve better throughput and reachability, but suffer from relatively longer delay. In this paper, we propose an efficient broadcasting scheme that combines the advantages of pure probabilistic and counter-based schemes to yield a significant performance improvement. Simulation results reveal that the new scheme achieves superior performance in terms of saved-rebroadcast, reachability and latency

Practical Aggregation in the Edge

Due to the increasing amounts of data produced by applications and devices, cloud infrastructures are becoming unable to timely process and provide answers back to users. This has led to the emergence of the edge computing paradigm that aims at moving computations closer to end user devices. Edge computing can be defined as performing computations outside the boundaries of cloud data centres. This however, can be materialised across very different scenarios considering the broad spectrum of devices that can be leveraged to perform computations in the edge. In this thesis, we focus on a concrete scenario of edge computing, that of multiple devices with wireless capabilities that collectively form a wireless ad hoc network to perform distributed computations. We aim at devising practical solutions for these scenarios however, there is a lack of tools to help us in achieving such goal. To address this first limitation we propose a novel framework, called Yggdrasil, that is specifically tailored to develop and execute distributed protocols over wireless ad hoc networks on commodity devices. As to enable distributed computations in such networks, we focus on the particular case of distributed data aggregation. In particular, we address a harder variant of this problem, that we dub distributed continuous aggregation, where input values used for the computation of the aggregation function may change over time, and propose a novel distributed continuous aggregation protocol, called MiRAge. We have implemented and validated both Yggdrasil and MiRAge through an extensive experimental evaluation using a test-bed composed of 24 Raspberry Pi’s. Our results show that Yggdrasil provides adequate abstractions and tools to implement and execute distributed protocols in wireless ad hoc settings. Our evaluation is also composed of a practical comparative study on distributed continuous aggregation protocols, that shows that MiRAge is more robust and achieves more precise aggregation results than competing state-of-the-art alternatives

PAMPA in the wild:a real-life evaluation of a lightweight ad-hoc broadcasting family

Broadcast is one of the core building blocks of many services deployed on ad-hoc wireless networks, such as Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks (MANETs) or Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Most broadcast protocols are however only ever evaluated using simulations, which have repeatedly been shown to be unreliable, and potentially misleading. In this paper, we seek to go beyond simulations, and consider the particular case of PAMPA, a promising family of wireless broadcast algorithms for ad-hoc and wireless networks. We report on our efforts to further our experimental understanding of PAMPA, and present the first ever characterisation of the PAMPA family on a real deployment. Here it has to deal with real network problems such as node, message and sending failure. Our experiments show that the standard PAMPA algorithm out-performs all other protocols in the family, with a delivery ratio consistently around 75%, and a retransmission ratio as low as 44%, for a failure-free run. We use this opportunity to reflect on our findings and lessons learnt when moving from simulations to actual experimentsab

Task allocation in group of nodes in the IoT: A consensus approach

The realization of the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm relies on the implementation of systems of cooperative intelligent objects with key interoperability capabilities. In order for objects to dynamically cooperate to IoT applications' execution, they need to make their resources available in a flexible way. However, available resources such as electrical energy, memory, processing, and object capability to perform a given task, are often limited. Therefore, resource allocation that ensures the fulfilment of network requirements is a critical challenge. In this paper, we propose a distributed optimization protocol based on consensus algorithm, to solve the problem of resource allocation and management in IoT heterogeneous networks. The proposed protocol is robust against links or nodes failures, so it's adaptive in dynamic scenarios where the network topology changes in runtime. We consider an IoT scenario where nodes involved in the same IoT task need to adjust their task frequency and buffer occupancy. We demonstrate that, using the proposed protocol, the network converges to a solution where resources are homogeneously allocated among nodes. Performance evaluation of experiments in simulation mode and in real scenarios show that the algorithm converges with a percentage error of about±5% with respect to the optimal allocation obtainable with a centralized approach

The dynamic counter-based broadcast for mobile ad hoc networks

Broadcasting is a fundamental operation in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) crucial to the successful deployment of MANETs in practice. Simple flooding is the most basic broadcasting technique where each node rebroadcasts any received packet exactly once. Although flooding is ideal for its simplicity and high reachability it has a critical disadvantage in that it tends to generate excessive collision and consumes the medium by unneeded and redundant packets. A number of broadcasting schemes have been proposed in MANETs to alleviate the drawbacks of flooding while maintaining a reasonable level of reachability. These schemes mainly fall into two categories: stochastic and deterministic. While the former employs a simple yet effective probabilistic principle to reduce redundant rebroadcasts the latter typically requires sophisticated control mechanisms to reduce excessive broadcast. The key danger with schemes that aim to reduce redundant broadcasts retransmissions is that they often do so at the expense of a reachability threshold which can be required in many applications. Among the proposed stochastic schemes, is counter-based broadcasting. In this scheme redundant broadcasts are inhibited by criteria related to the number of duplicate packets received. For this scheme to achieve optimal reachability, it requires fairly stable and known nodal distributions. However, in general, a MANETs‟ topology changes continuously and unpredictably over time. Though the counter-based scheme was among the earliest suggestions to reduce the problems associated with broadcasting, there have been few attempts to analyse in depth the performance of such an approach in MANETs. Accordingly, the first part of this research, Chapter 3, sets a baseline study of the counter-based scheme analysing it under various network operating conditions. The second part, Chapter 4, attempts to establish the claim that alleviating existing stochastic counter-based scheme by dynamically setting threshold values according to local neighbourhood density improves overall network efficiency. This is done through the implementation and analysis of the Dynamic Counter-Based (DCB) scheme, developed as part of this work. The study shows a clear benefit of the proposed scheme in terms of average collision rate, saved rebroadcasts and end-to-end delay, while maintaining reachability. The third part of this research, Chapter 5, evaluates dynamic counting and tests its performance in some approximately realistic scenarios. The examples chosen are from the rapidly developing field of Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs). The schemes are studied under metropolitan settings, involving nodes moving in streets and lanes with speed and direction constraints. Two models are considered and implemented: the first assuming an unobstructed open terrain; the other taking account of buildings and obstacles. While broadcasting is a vital operation in most MANET routing protocols, investigation of stochastic broadcast schemes for MANETs has tended to focus on the broadcast schemes, with little examination on the impact of those schemes in specific applications, such as route discovery in routing protocols. The fourth part of this research, Chapter 6, evaluates the performance of the Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol with a route discovery mechanism based on dynamic-counting. AODV was chosen as it is widely accepted by the research community and is standardised by the MANET IETF working group. That said, other routing protocols would be expected to interact in a similar manner. The performance of the AODV routing protocol is analysed under three broadcasting mechanisms, notably AODV with flooding, AODV with counting and AODV with dynamic counting. Results establish that a noticeable advantage, in most considered metrics can be achieved using dynamic counting with AODV compared to simple counting or traditional flooding. In summary, this research analysis the Dynamic Counter-Based scheme under a range of network operating conditions and applications; and demonstrates a clear benefit of the scheme when compared to its predecessors under a wide range of considered conditions

GOSSIPKIT: A Unified Component Framework for Gossip

International audienceAlthough the principles of gossip protocols are relatively easy to grasp, their variety can make their design and evaluation highly time consuming. This problem is compounded by the lack of a unified programming framework for gossip, which means developers cannot easily reuse, compose, or adapt existing solutions to fit their needs, and have limited opportunities to share knowledge and ideas. In this paper, we consider how component frameworks, which have been widely applied to implement middleware solutions, can facilitate the development of gossip-based systems in a way that is both generic and simple. We show how such an approach can maximise code reuse, simplify the implementation of gossip protocols, and facilitate dynamic evolution and re-deployment

A survey on probabilistic broadcast schemes for wireless ad hoc networks

Broadcast or flooding is a dissemination technique of paramount importance in wireless ad hoc networks. The broadcast scheme is widely used within routing protocols by a wide range of wireless ad hoc networks such as mobile ad hoc networks, vehicular ad hoc networks, and wireless sensor networks, and used to spread emergency messages in critical scenarios after a disaster scenario and/or an accidents. As the type broadcast scheme used plays an important role in the performance of the network, it has to be selected carefully. Though several types of broadcast schemes have been proposed, probabilistic broadcast schemes have been demonstrated to be suitable schemes for wireless ad hoc networks due to a range of benefits offered by them such as low overhead, balanced energy consumption, and robustness against failures and mobility of nodes. In the last decade, many probabilistic broadcast schemes have been proposed by researchers. In addition to reviewing the main features of the probabilistic schemes found in the literature, we also present a classification of the probabilistic schemes, an exhaustive review of the evaluation methodology including their performance metrics, types of network simulators, their comparisons, and present some examples of real implementations, in this paper

A survey of flooding, gossip routing, and related schemes for wireless multi- hop networks

Flooding is an essential and critical service in computer networks that is used by many routing protocols to send packets from a source to all nodes in the network. As the packets are forwarded once by each receiving node, many copies of the same packet traverse the network which leads to high redundancy and unnecessary usage of the sparse capacity of the transmission medium. Gossip routing is a well-known approach to improve the flooding in wireless multi-hop networks. Each node has a forwarding probability p that is either statically per-configured or determined by information that is available at runtime, e.g, the node degree. When a packet is received, the node selects a random number r. If the number r is below p, the packet is forwarded and otherwise, in the most simple gossip routing protocol, dropped. With this approach the redundancy can be reduced while at the same time the reachability is preserved if the value of the parameter p (and others) is chosen with consideration of the network topology. This technical report gives an overview of the relevant publications in the research domain of gossip routing and gives an insight in the improvements that can be achieved. We discuss the simulation setups and results of gossip routing protocols as well as further improved flooding schemes. The three most important metrics in this application domain are elaborated: reachability, redundancy, and management overhead. The published studies used simulation environments for their research and thus the assumptions, models, and parameters of the simulations are discussed and the feasibility of an application for real world wireless networks are highlighted. Wireless mesh networks based on IEEE 802.11 are the focus of this survey but publications about other network types and technologies are also included. As percolation theory, epidemiological models, and delay tolerant networks are often referred as foundation, inspiration, or application of gossip routing in wireless networks, a brief introduction to each research domain is included and the applicability of the particular models for the gossip routing is discussed