Abstract—Opportunistic Networks (OppNets) are designed to transfer messages between intermittently connected mobile nodes which are unaware of network topology. As the traditional routing protocols, which assume continuous connection between nodes and need to be aware of network topology, cannot be implemented in OppNets, various OppNet routing protocols, such as Epidemic, PRoPHET etc., have been proposed for message delivery. An OppNet’s message delivery mechanism is store-and-forward in which a node stores incoming messages and forwards the copies of the messages to nodes it encounters causing a large overhead in the network. Furthermore, as nodes are mobile and are powered by batteries, it is essential to consume less energy and extend the network life so that a large number of messages can be delivered. In order to improve the message deliverability of a node, network overhead and network life expectancy in existing OppNet protocols, we consider the node’s resources, whose values change continuously, while transferring messages in the networks. In our proposal, a node first calculates its Message Deliverability (MD) which depends upon the protocol used and its resources. The node then uses its MD and the encountered node’s MD to make message forwarding decision. Extensive simulation results have shown that the message delivery probability, network overhead and network life of existing OppNet protocols can be improved significantly using our proposal. 
 

Index Terms—OppNets, message deliverability, routing protocols, overhead, network life

Cite: Bhed Bahadur Bista, "Improving Message Deliverability of Opportunistic Network Protocols," International Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering & Telecommunications, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 51-56, January 2019. Doi: 10.18178/ijeetc.8.1.51-56