Routing in extremely mobile networks

To become realistically untethered, wireless communication networks need to be self-organised, rapidly deployable, infrastructureless and mobile. Existing protocols are efficient in routing data dynamically between mobile nodes that belong to the same connected component. Concrete applications such as Defence and Disaster-Relief cannot always assume that the network is connected (i.e., not partitionned). However, even if the network is continuously partitioned, a “communication path” may be available through time and mobility using intermediate mobile nodes (temporally within reach of each other) — we have coined these “Extremely Mobile Networks”. We consider the problem of routing in a highly mobile network which, possibly, may never be fully connected. We introduce new algorithms that always allow to route a packet toward a remote destination. The packet bounces from connected components to connected components, thanks to node mobility.10 page(s