P2P Protest: Practical Adaptations of Epidemic Routing for Mobile Devices

A routing protocol known as Epidemic Routing has been proposed as a means to transmit information between nodes in partially connected mobile ad hoc networks (MANET’s). Many different aspects of the Epidemic Routing protocol such as energy efficiency and message delivery latency have been examined in terms of military and scientific applica- tions. This research examines the adaptation of the Epidemic Routing protocol and its variants as a possible means of communicating in urban protest type environments where traditional means of technological communication are easily disrupted by malicious par- ties. With this application in mind, the Epidemic Routing protocol was evaluated in a series of simulations to show that it is surprisingly capable of efficiently disseminating in- formation in this type of situation and of withstanding tampering from malicious parties. Lastly the feasibility of adapting the Epidemic Routing protocol to a real world applica- tion both for the purpose of disseminating information in an urban protest environment and in general is examined given current technological limitations. The lack of a suitable wireless networking technology is identified as the primary deterrent in creating a real world adaptation of an Epidemic Routing protocol and the general requirements needed for a successful adaptation are outlined