Giovanni Resta

The node distribution of the random waypoint mobility model for wireless ad hoc networks

The random waypoint model is a commonly used mobility model in the simulation of ad hoc networks. It is known that the spatial distribution of network nodes moving according to this model is, in general, nonuniform. However, a closed-form expression of this distribution and an in-depth investigation is still missing. This fact impairs the accuracy of the current simulation methodology of ad hoc networks and makes it impossible to relate simulation-based performance results to corresponding analytical results. To overcome these problems, we present a detailed analytical study of the spatial node distribution generated by random waypoint mobility. More specifically, we consider a generalization of the model in which the pause time of the mobile nodes is chosen arbitrarily in each waypoint and a fraction of nodes may remain static for the entire simulation time. We show that the structure of the resulting distribution is the weighted sum of three independent components: the static, pause, and mobility component. This division enables us to understand how the models parameters influence the distribution. We derive an exact equation of the asymptotically stationary distribution for movement on a line segment and an accurate approximation for a square area. The good quality of this approximation is validated through simulations using various settings of the mobility parameters. In summary, this article gives a fundamental understanding of the behavior of the random waypoint model.

The K-Neigh Protocol for Symmetric Topology Control in Ad Hoc Networks

We propose an approach to topology control based on the principle of maintaining the number of neighbors of every node equal to or slightly below a specific value k. The approach enforces symmetry on the resulting communication graph, thereby easing the operation of higher layer protocols. To evaluate the performance of our approach, we estimate the value of k that guarantees connectivity of the communication graph with high probability. We then define k-Neigh, a fully distributed, asynchronous, and localized protocol that follows the above approach and uses distance estimation. We prove that k-Neigh terminates at every node after a total of 2n messages have been exchanged (with n nodes in the network) and within strictly bounded time. Finally, we present simulations results which show that our approach is about 20% more energy-efficient than a widely-studied existing protocol.

The k-Neighbors Approach to Interference Bounded and Symmetric Topology Control in Ad Hoc Networks

Topology control, wherein nodes adjust their transmission ranges to conserve energy and reduce interference, is an important feature in wireless ad hoc networks. Contrary to most of the literature on topology control which focuses on reducing energy consumption, in this paper we tackle the topology control problem with the goal of limiting interference as much as possible, while keeping the communication graph connected with high probability. Our approach is based on the principle of maintaining the number of physical neighbors of every node equal to or slightly below a specific value k. As we will discuss in this paper, having a nontrivially bounded physical node degree allows a network topology with bounded interference to be generated. The proposed approach enforces symmetry on the resulting communication graph, thereby easing the operation of higher layer protocols. To evaluate the performance of our approach, we estimate the value of k that guarantees connectivity of the communication graph with high probability both theoretically and through simulation. We then define k-NEIGH, a fully distributed, asynchronous, and localized protocol that uses distance estimation. k-NEIGH guarantees logarithmically bounded physical degree at every node, is the most efficient known protocol (requiring 2n messages in total, where n is the number of nodes in the network), and relies on simpler assumptions than existing protocols. Furthermore, we verify through simulation that the network topologies produced by k-NEIGH show good performance in terms of node energy consumption and expected interference

Quantifying the benefits of vehicle pooling with shareability networks

Significance Recent advances in information technologies have increased our participation in “sharing economies,” where applications that allow networked, real-time data exchange facilitate the sharing of living spaces, equipment, or vehicles with others. However, the impact of large-scale sharing on sustainability is not clear, and a framework to assess its benefits quantitatively is missing. For this purpose, we propose the method of shareability networks, which translates spatio-temporal sharing problems into a graph-theoretic framework that provides efficient solutions. Applying this method to a dataset of 150 million taxi trips in New York City, our simulations reveal the vast potential of a new taxi system in which trips are routinely shareable while keeping passenger discomfort low in terms of prolonged travel time. Taxi services are a vital part of urban transportation, and a considerable contributor to traffic congestion and air pollution causing substantial adverse effects on human health. Sharing taxi trips is a possible way of reducing the negative impact of taxi services on cities, but this comes at the expense of passenger discomfort quantifiable in terms of a longer travel time. Due to computational challenges, taxi sharing has traditionally been approached on small scales, such as within airport perimeters, or with dynamical ad hoc heuristics. However, a mathematical framework for the systematic understanding of the tradeoff between collective benefits of sharing and individual passenger discomfort is lacking. Here we introduce the notion of shareability network, which allows us to model the collective benefits of sharing as a function of passenger inconvenience, and to efficiently compute optimal sharing strategies on massive datasets. We apply this framework to a dataset of millions of taxi trips taken in New York City, showing that with increasing but still relatively low passenger discomfort, cumulative trip length can be cut by 40% or more. This benefit comes with reductions in service cost, emissions, and with split fares, hinting toward a wide passenger acceptance of such a shared service. Simulation of a realistic online system demonstrates the feasibility of a shareable taxi service in New York City. Shareability as a function of trip density saturates fast, suggesting effectiveness of the taxi sharing system also in cities with much sparser taxi fleets or when willingness to share is low.

On the Symmetric Range Assignment Problem in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

In this paper we consider a constrained version of the range assignment problem for wireless ad hoc networks, where the value the node transmitting ranges must be assigned in such a way that the resulting communication graph is strongly connected and the energy cost is minimum. We impose the further requirement of symmetry on the resulting communication graph. We also consider a weaker notion of symmetry, in which only the existence of a set of symmetric edges that renders the communication graph connected is required. Our interest in these problems is motivated by the fact that a (weakly) symmetric range assignment can be more easily integrated with existing higher and lower-level protocols for ad hoc networks, which assume that all the nodes have the same transmitting range. We show that imposing symmetry does not change the complexity of the problem, which remains NP-hard in two and three-dimensional networks. We also show that a weakly symmetric range assignment can reduce the energy cost considerably with respect to the homogeneous case, in which all the nodes have the same transmitting range, and that no further (asymptotic) benefit is expected from the asymmetric range assignment. Hence, the results presented in this paper indicate that weak symmetry is a desirable property of the range assignment.

Analysis of multi-hop emergency message propagation in vehicular ad hoc networks

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) are attracting the attention of researchers, industry, and governments for their potential of significantly increasing the safety level on the road. In order to understand whether VANETs can actually realize this goal, in this paper we analyze the dynamics of multi-hop emergency message dissemination in VANETs. Under a probabilistic wireless channel model that accounts for interference, we derive lower bounds on the probability that a car at distance d from the source ofthe emergency message correctly receives the message within time t. Besides d and t, this probability depends also on 1-hop channel reliability, which we model as a probability value p, and on the message dissemination strategy. Our bounds are derived for an idealized dissemination strategy which ignores interference, and for two provably near-optimal dissemination strategies under protocol interference. The bounds derived in the first part of the paper are used to carefully analyze the tradeoff between the safety level on the road (modeled by parameters d and t), and the value of 1-hop message reliability p. The analysis of this tradeoff discloses several interesting insights that can be very useful in the design of practical emergency message dissemination strategies.

An analysis of the node spatial distribution of the random waypoint mobility model for ad hoc networks

In this paper we analyze the node spatial distribution generated by nodes moving according to the random waypoint model, which is widely used in the simulation of mobile ad hoc networks. We extend an existing analysis for the case in which nodes are continuously moving (i.e., the pause time is 0) to the more general case in which nodes have arbitrary pause times between movements. We also generalize the mobility model, allowing the nodes to remain stationary for the entire simulation time with a given probabilit . Our analysis shows that the structure of the resulting as asymptotic spatial density is composed by three distinct components: the initial, the pause and the mobilit component. The relative values of these components depend on the mobilit parameters. We derive an explicit formula of the one-dimensional node spatial density, and an approximated formula for the two-dimensional case.The quality of this approximation is verified through experimentation, which shows that the accuracy heavily depends on the choice of the mobilit parameters.

COMMIT: a sender-centric truthful and energy-efficient routing protocol for ad hoc networks with selfish nodes

We consider the problem of establishing a route and sending packets between a source/destination pair in ad hoc networks composed of rational selfish nodes, whose purpose is to maximize their own utility. In order to motivate nodes to follow the protocol specification, we use side payments that are made to the forwarding nodes. Our goal is to design a fully distributed algorithm such that: (i) a node is always better off participating in the protocol execution (individual rationality), (ii) a node is always better off behaving according to the protocol specification (truthfulness), (iii) messages are routed along the most energy-efficient path, and (iv) the message complexity is reasonably low. We introduce the COMMIT protocol for individually rational, truthful, and energy-efficient routing in ad-hoc networks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first ad hoc routing protocol with these features. COMMIT is based on the VCG payment scheme, in conjunction with a novel game-theoretic technique to achieve truthfulness for the sender node. By means of simulation, we show that the inevitable economic inefficiency is small. As an aside, our work demonstrates the advantage of using a cross-layer approach to solving problems: leveraging the existence of an underlying topology control protocol, we are able to simplify the design and analysis of our routing protocol, and to reduce its message complexity. On the other hand, our investigation of the routing problem in presence of selfish nodes disclosed a new metric under which topology control protocols can be evaluated: the cost of cooperation.

A measurement-based study of beaconing performance in IEEE 802.11p vehicular networks

Active safety applications for vehicular networks aims at improving safety conditions on the road by raising the level of “situation awareness” onboard vehicles. Situation awareness is achieved through exchange of beacons reporting positional and kinematic data. Two important performance parameters influence the level of situation awareness available to the active safety application: the beacon (packet) delivery rate (PDR), and the packet inter-reception (PIR) time. While measurement-based evaluations of the former metric recently appeared in the literature, the latter metric has not been studied so far. In this paper, for the first time, we estimate the PIR time and its correlation with PDR and other environmental parameters through an extensive measurement campaign based on IEEE 802.11p technology. Our study discloses several interesting insights on PIR times that can be expected in a real-world scenarios, which should be carefully considered by the active safety application designers. A major insight is that the packet inter reception time distribution is a power-law and that long situation awareness black-outs are likely to occur in batch, implying that situation awareness can be severely impaired even when the average beacon delivery rate is relatively high. Furthermore, our analysis shows that PIR and PDR are only loosely (negatively) correlated, and that the PIR time is almost independent of speed and distance between vehicles. A third major contribution of this paper is promoting the Gilbert-Elliot model, previously proposed to model bit error bursts in packet switched networks, as a very accurate model of beacon reception behavior observed in real-world data.

The COMMIT Protocol for Truthful and Cost-Efficient Routing in Ad Hoc Networks with Selfish Nodes

We consider the problem of establishing a route and sending packets between a source/destination pair in ad hoc networks composed of rational selfish nodes whose purpose is to maximize their own utility. In order to motivate nodes to follow the protocol specification, we use side payments that are made to the forwarding nodes. Our goal is to design a fully distributed algorithm such that (1) a node is always better off participating in the protocol execution (individual rationality), (2) a node is always better off behaving according to the protocol specification (truthfulness), (3) messages are routed along the most energy-efficient (least cost) path, and (4) the message complexity is reasonably low. We introduce the COMMIT protocol for individually rational, truthful, and energy-efficient routing in ad hoc networks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first ad hoc routing protocol with these features. COMMIT is based on the VCG payment scheme in conjunction with a novel game-theoretic technique to achieve truthfulness for the sender node. By means of simulation, we show that the inevitable economic inefficiency is small. As an aside, our work demonstrates the advantage of using a cross-layer approach to solving problems: Leveraging the existence of an underlying topology control protocol, we are able to simplify the design and analysis of our routing protocol and reduce its message complexity. On the other hand, our investigation of the routing problem in the presence of selfish nodes disclosed a new metric under which topology control protocols can be evaluated: the cost of cooperation.