Self-organizing Connectivity for Mobile Agents in Dynamical Environments

摘要

Field operations carried out by mobile users in inhospitable contexts like disaster relief or battlefield require that the communication between those mobile users is as effective and efficient as possible. To facilitate such communication, a highly available communication platform is required. This article envisions that Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) could be feasible communication platforms for inhospitable contexts provided high connectivity is achievable. In this article, a proactive distributed mechanism, referred to as a self-organizing mechanism, to provide high connectivity for MANETs operating in inhospitable contexts is presented. This mechanism is based on the introduction of additional unmanned vehicles acting as communication bridges, where their demand is dynamically determined by the movement of the mobile users. By means of simulations it is demonstrated that the proactive distributed self-organizing mechanism proposed in this article allows MANETs to exhibit high connectivity under high values of link failure probability.