Corpus for development of routing algorithms in opportunistic networks

We have designed a collection of scenarios, a corpus, for its use in the study and development of routing algorithms for opportunistic networks. To obtain these scenarios, we have followed a methodology based on characterizing the space and choosing the best exemplary items in such a way that the corpus as a whole was representative of all possible scenarios. Until now, research in this area was using some sets of non-standard network traces that made it difficult to evaluate algorithms and perform fair comparisons between them. These developments were hard to assess in an objective way, and were prone to introduce unintentional biases that directly affected the quality of the research. Our contribution is more than a collection of scenarios; our corpus provides a fine collection of network behaviors that suit the development of routing algorithms, specifically in evaluating and comparing them. If the scientific community embraces this corpus, the community will have a global-agreed methodology where the validity of results would not be limited to specific scenarios or network conditions, thus avoiding self-produced evaluation setups, availability problems and selection bias, and saving time. New research in the area will be able to validate the routing algorithms already published. It will also be possible to identify the scenarios better suit specific purposes, and results will be easily verified. The corpus is available free to download and use

Enabling Use of Signal in a Disconnected Village Environment

A significant portion of the world still does not have a stable internet connection. Those people should have the ability to communicate with their loved ones who may not live near by or to share ideas with friends. To power this achievable reality, our lab has set out on making infrastructure for enabling delay tolerant applications. This network will communicate using existing smartphones that will relay the information to a connected environment. The proof of concept application our lab is using is Signal as it offers end to end encryption messaging and an open source platform our lab can develop

PrivHab : A privacy preserving georouting protocol based on a multiagent system for podcast distribution on disconnected areas

Altres ajuts: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 472-03-01/2012We present PrivHab, a privacy preserving georouting protocol that improves multiagent decision-making. PrivHab learns the mobility habits of the nodes of the network. Then, it uses this information to dynamically select to route an agent carrying a piece of data to reach its destination. PrivHab makes use of cryptographic techniques from secure multi-party computation to make the decisions while preserving nodes' privacy. PrivHab uses a waypoint-based routing that achieves a high performance and low overhead in rugged terrain areas that are plenty of physical obstacles. The store-carry-and-forward approach used is combined with mobile agents that provide intelligence, and it is designed to operate in areas that lack network infrastructure. We have evaluated PrivHab under the scope of a realistic podcast distribution application in remote rural areas, where these programs have to be recorded into a physical format and distributed to the local radio stations. The usage of PrivHab aims to reduce this spending of resources. The PrivHab protocol is compared with a set of well-known delay-tolerant routing algorithms and shown to outperform them

PrivHab+ : A secure geographic routing protocol for DTN

Altres ajuts: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 472-03-01/2012We present PrivHab+, a secure geographic routing protocol that learns about the mobility habits of the nodes of the network and uses this information in a secure manner. PrivHab+ is designed to operate in areas that lack of network, using the store-carry-and-forward approach. PrivHab+ compares nodes and chooses the best choice to carry messages towards a known geographical location. To achieve a high performance and low overhead, PrivHab+ uses information about the usual whereabouts of the nodes to make optimal routing decisions. PrivHab+ makes use of cryptographic techniques from secure multi-party computation to preserve nodes' privacy while taking routing decisions. The overhead introduced by PrivHab+ is evaluated using a proof-of-concept implementation, and its performance is studied under the scope of a realistic application of podcast distribution. PrivHab+ is compared, through simulation, with a set of well-known delay-tolerant routing algorithms in two different scenarios of remote rural areas

Podcast distribution on Gwanda using PrivHab : a multiagent secure georouting protocol

Capítol de llibre d'actes del congres: 13th Conference on Practical Applications of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (PAAMS 15).We present PrivHab, a georouting protocol that improves multiagent systems itinerary decision-making. PrivHab uses the mobility habits of the nodes of the network to select an itinerary for each agent carrying a piece of data. PrivHab makes use of cryptographic techniques to make the decisions while preserving nodes' privacy. PrivHab uses a waypoint-based georouting that achieves a high performance and low overhead in rugged terrain areas that are plenty of physical obstacles. The store-carry-and-forward approach used is based on mobile agents and is designed to operate in areas that lack network infrastructure. We have evaluated PrivHab under the scope of a realistic podcast distribution application in remote rural areas. The PrivHab protocol is compared with a set of well-known delay-tolerant routing algorithms and shown to outperform them

From MANET to people-centric networking: Milestones and open research challenges

In this paper, we discuss the state of the art of (mobile) multi-hop ad hoc networking with the aim to present the current status of the research activities and identify the consolidated research areas, with limited research opportunities, and the hot and emerging research areas for which further research is required. We start by briefly discussing the MANET paradigm, and why the research on MANET protocols is now a cold research topic. Then we analyze the active research areas. Specifically, after discussing the wireless-network technologies, we analyze four successful ad hoc networking paradigms, mesh networks, opportunistic networks, vehicular networks, and sensor networks that emerged from the MANET world. We also present an emerging research direction in the multi-hop ad hoc networking field: people centric networking, triggered by the increasing penetration of the smartphones in everyday life, which is generating a people-centric revolution in computing and communications

Aerial Network Assistance Systems for Post-Disaster Scenarios : Topology Monitoring and Communication Support in Infrastructure-Independent Networks

Communication anytime and anywhere is necessary for our modern society to function. However, the critical network infrastructure quickly fails in the face of a disaster and leaves the affected population without means of communication. This lack can be overcome by smartphone-based emergency communication systems, based on infrastructure-independent networks like Delay-Tolerant Networks (DTNs). DTNs, however, suffer from short device-to-device link distances and, thus, require multi-hop routing or data ferries between disjunct parts of the network. In disaster scenarios, this fragmentation is particularly severe because of the highly clustered human mobility behavior. Nevertheless, aerial communication support systems can connect local network clusters by utilizing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as data ferries. To facilitate situation-aware and adaptive communication support, knowledge of the network topology, the identification of missing communication links, and the constant reassessment of dynamic disasters are required. These requirements are usually neglected, despite existing approaches to aerial monitoring systems capable of detecting devices and networks. In this dissertation, we, therefore, facilitate the coexistence of aerial topology monitoring and communications support mechanisms in an autonomous Aerial Network Assistance System for infrastructure-independent networks as our first contribution. To enable system adaptations to unknown and dynamic disaster situations, our second contribution addresses the collection, processing, and utilization of topology information. For one thing, we introduce cooperative monitoring approaches to include the DTN in the monitoring process. Furthermore, we apply novel approaches for data aggregation and network cluster estimation to facilitate the continuous assessment of topology information and an appropriate system adaptation. Based on this, we introduce an adaptive topology-aware routing approach to reroute UAVs and increase the coverage of disconnected nodes outside clusters. We generalize our contributions by integrating them into a simulation framework, creating an evaluation platform for autonomous aerial systems as our third contribution. We further increase the expressiveness of our aerial system evaluation, by adding movement models for multicopter aircraft combined with power consumption models based on real-world measurements. Additionally, we improve the disaster simulation by generalizing civilian disaster mobility based on a real-world field test. With a prototypical system implementation, we extensively evaluate our contributions and show the significant benefits of cooperative monitoring and topology-aware routing, respectively. We highlight the importance of continuous and integrated topology monitoring for aerial communications support and demonstrate its necessity for an adaptive and long-term disaster deployment. In conclusion, the contributions of this dissertation enable the usage of autonomous Aerial Network Assistance Systems and their adaptability in dynamic disaster scenarios

Conception d’un support de communication opportuniste pour les services pervasifs

The vision of pervasive computing of building interactive smart spaces in the physical environment is gradually heading from the research domain to reality. Computing capacity is moving beyond personal computers to many day-to-day devices, and these devices become, thanks to multiple interfaces, capable of communicating directly with one another or of connecting to the Internet.In this thesis, we are interested in a kind of pervasive computing environment that forms what we call an Intermittently Connected Hybrid Network (ICHN). An ICHN is a network composed of two parts: a fixed and a mobile part. The fixed part is formed of some fixed infostations (potentially connected together with some fixed infrastructure, typically the Internet). The mobile part, on the other hand, is formed of smartphones carried by nomadic people. While the fixed part is mainly stable, the mobile part is considered challenging and form what is called an Opportunistic Network. Indeed, relying on short-range communication means coupled with the free movements of people and radio interferences lead to frequent disconnections. To perform a network-wide communication, the "store, carry and forward" approach is usually applied. With this approach, a message can be stored temporarily on a device, in order to be forwarded later when circumstances permit. Any device can opportunistically be used as an intermediate relay to facilitate the propagation of a message from one part of the network to another. In this context, the provisioning of pervasive services is particularly challenging, and requires revisiting important components of the provisioning process, such as performing pervasive service discovery and invocation with the presence of connectivity disruptions and absence of both end-to-end paths and access continuity due to user mobility. This thesis addresses the problems of providing network-wide service provisioning in ICHNs and proposes solutions for pervasive service discovery, invocation and access continuity. Concerning service discovery challenge, we propose TAO-DIS, a service discovery protocol that performs an automatic and fast service discovery mechanism. TAO-DIS takes into account the hybrid nature of an ICHN and that the majority of services are provided by infostations. It permits mobile users to discover all the services in the surrounding environment in order to identify and choose the most convenient ones. To allow users to interact with the discovered services, we introduce TAO-INV. TAO-INV is a service invocation protocol specifically designed for ICHNs. It relies on a set of heuristics and mechanisms that ensures performing efficient routing of messages (both service requests and responses) between fixed infostations and mobile clients while preserving both low values of overhead and round trip delays. Since some infostations in the network might be connected, we propose a soft handover mechanism that modifies the invocation process in order to reduce service delivery delays. This handover mechanism takes into consideration the opportunistic nature of the mobile part of the ICHN. We have performed various experiments to evaluate our solutions and compare them with other protocols designed for ad hoc and opportunistic networks. The obtained results tend to prove that our solutions outperform these protocols, namely thanks to the optimizations we have developed for ICHNs. In our opinion, building specialized protocols that benefit from techniques specifically designed for ICHNs is an approach that should be pursued, in complement with research works on general-purpose communication protocolsLa vision de l'informatique ubiquitaire permettant de construire des espaces intelligents interactifs dans l'environnement physique passe, peu à peu, du domaine de la recherche à la réalité. La capacité de calcul ne se limite plus à l'ordinateur personnel mais s'intègre dans de multiples appareils du quotidien, et ces appareils deviennent, grâce à plusieurs interfaces, capables de communiquer directement les uns avec les autres ou bien de se connecter à Internet.Dans cette thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés à un type d'environnement cible de l'informatique ubiquitaire qui forme ce que nous appelons un réseau hybride à connexions intermittentes (ICHN). Un ICHN est un réseau composé de deux parties : une partie fixe et une partie mobile. La partie fixe est constituée de plusieurs infostations fixes (potentiellement reliées entre elles avec une infrastructure fixe, typiquement l'Internet). La partie mobile, quant à elle, est constituée de smartphones portés par des personnes nomades. Tandis que la partie fixe est principalement stable, la partie mobile pose un certain nombre de défis propres aux réseaux opportunistes. En effet, l'utilisation de moyens de communication à courte portée couplée à des déplacements de personnes non contraints et à des interférences radio induit des déconnexions fréquentes. Le concept du "store, carry and forward" est alors habituellement appliqué pour permettre la communication sur l'ensemble du réseau. Avec cette approche, un message peut être stocké temporairement sur un appareil avant d'être transféré plus tard quand les circonstances sont plus favorables. Ainsi, n'importe quel appareil devient un relai de transmission opportuniste qui permet de faciliter la propagation d'un message dans le réseau. Dans ce contexte, la fourniture de services est particulièrement problématique, et exige de revisiter les composants principaux du processus de fourniture, tels que la découverte et l'invocation de service, en présence de ruptures de connectivité et en l'absence de chemins de bout en bout. Cette thèse aborde les problèmes de fourniture de service sur l'ensemble d'un ICHN et propose des solutions pour la découverte de services, l'invocation et la continuité d'accès. En ce qui concerne le défi de la découverte de services, nous proposons TAO-DIS, un protocole qui met en œuvre un mécanisme automatique et rapide de découverte de services. TAO-DIS tient compte de la nature hybride d'un ICHN et du fait que la majorité des services sont fournis par des infostations. Il permet aux utilisateurs mobiles de découvrir tous les services dans l'environnement afin d'identifier et de choisir les plus intéressants. Pour permettre aux utilisateurs d'interagir avec les services découverts, nous introduisons TAO-INV. TAO-INV est un protocole d'invocation de service spécialement conçu pour les ICHN. Il se fonde sur un ensemble d'heuristiques et de mécanismes qui assurent un acheminement efficace des messages (des requêtes et des réponses de services) entre les infostations fixes et les clients mobiles tout en conservant un surcoût et des temps de réponses réduits. Puisque certaines infostations dans le réseau peuvent être reliées entre elles, nous proposons un mécanisme de continuité d'accès (handover) qui modifie le processus d'invocation pour réduire les délais de délivrance. Dans sa définition, il est tenu compte de la nature opportuniste de la partie mobile de l'ICHN. Nous avons mené diverses expérimentations pour évaluer nos solutions et les comparer à d'autres protocoles conçus pour des réseaux ad hoc et des réseaux opportunistes. Les résultats obtenus tendent à montrer que nos solutions surpassent ces autres protocoles, notamment grâce aux optimisations que nous avons développées pour les ICHN. À notre avis, construire des protocoles spécialisés qui tirent parti des techniques spécifiquement conçues pour les ICHN est une approche à poursuivre en complément des recherches sur des protocoles de communication polyvalent

Towards efficacy and efficiency in sparse delay tolerant networks

The ubiquitous adoption of portable smart devices has enabled a new way of communication via Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs), whereby messages are routed by the personal devices carried by ever-moving people. Although a DTN is a type of Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET), traditional MANET solutions are ill-equipped to accommodate message delivery in DTNs due to the dynamic and unpredictable nature of people\u27s movements and their spatio-temporal sparsity. More so, such DTNs are susceptible to catastrophic congestion and are inherently chaotic and arduous. This manuscript proposes approaches to handle message delivery in notably sparse DTNs. First, the ChitChat system [69] employs the social interests of individuals participating in a DTN to accurately model multi-hop relationships and to make opportunistic routing decisions for interest-annotated messages. Second, the ChitChat system is hybridized [70] to consider both social context and geographic information for learning the social semantics of locations so as to identify worthwhile routing opportunities to destinations and areas of interest. Network density analyses of five real-world datasets is conducted to identify sparse datasets on which to conduct simulations, finding that commonly-used datasets in past DTN research are notably dense and well connected, and suggests two rarely used datasets are appropriate for research into sparse DTNs. Finally, the Catora system is proposed to address congestive-driven degradation of service in DTNs by accomplishing two simultaneous tasks: (i) expedite the delivery of higher quality messages by uniquely ordering messages for transfer and delivery, and (ii) avoid congestion through strategic buffer management and message removal. Through dataset-driven simulations, these systems are found to outperform the state-of-the-art, with ChitChat facilitating delivery in sparse DTNs and Catora unencumbered by congestive conditions --Abstract, page iv