Mobility modeling and MANET projects (2002-2011)

This project is no longer active; this page is no longer updated.

Summary
People
Funding
Papers

Related projects: [CRAWDAD], [Wi-Fi-measurement]

Related keywords: [manet], [wifi]

Summary

Mobility modeling: Much research in mobile computing, including many papers on ad hoc networks, wireless networks, and pervasive computing, evaluated their proposed systems or algorithms through simulation; since they dealt with mobile devices, the simulation included a mobility model. Most such research, unfortunately, used woefully inadequate models based on random-walk behavior ("random waypoint" and similar models). Building upon traces collected from Dartmouth's wireless network [see the Wi-Fi-measurement project], we derived mobility models and parameters that more closely match the mobility behaviors of real users. Papers include [kim:anomaly, kim:jclassify, kim:classify, kim:wardriving, kim:mobility, kim:hotspots, lee:thesis, mare:models].

Mobility prediction: Leveraging Dartmouth's collection of wireless-network data [see the Wi-Fi-measurement project], we developed and evaluated methods to predict the next access point where a Wi-Fi device was likely to associate, based on its past history. There was a lot of prior work that provided nice theoretical results; our papers were the first to evaluate all those algorithms with real mobility data. The results show that the more sophisticated algorithms do not provide any substantial advantage, and that simple predictors suffice. Papers include [song:thesis, song:dtn, song:chapter, song:reserv, song:jpredict, song:predict].

MANET and ad hoc networks: Mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) were a subject of frequent study. Most researchers evaluated their systems and algorithms using simulation -- but most such simulations depended on models of the physical layer that were overly simplistic. We evaluated the relative performance of MANET simulations and MANET experiments. In the process, we identified the common assumptions made in MANET research and quantitatively showed how simulation results will not match reality unless good models are used. We conducted the largest-ever outdoor experiment with multiple routing algorithms, and developed new ways to drive a simulator with conditions that match those in the experiment. Papers include [newport:axioms, newport:thesis, kotz:axioms, gray:compare, liu:jdirex, liu:direx].

People

Modeling: Minkyong Kim, Jeff Fielding, Songkuk Kim, and David Kotz.

Prediction: Libo Song, Udayan Deshpande, Ravi Jain, David Kotz, Ulas Kozat, and Xiaoning He.

MANET and ad hoc networks: Calvin Newport, Yougu Yuan, Robert S. Gray, Jason Liu, Chip Elliott, David M. Nicol, Nikita Dubrovsky, Aaron Fiske, Christopher Masone, Susan McGrath, Luiz Felipe Perrone, and David Kotz.

Funding and acknowledgements

Modeling: Cisco, NSF, and Dartmouth College.

Prediction: DoCoMo Labs USA, Department of Justice (BJA) through ISTS.

MANET and ad hoc networks: DOD, AFOSR, DARPA, and DHS through ISTS.

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