Building flexible ad-hoc and wireless networks
This work looked at a number of issues that arise in the context of wireless ad hoc networks, and in particular the trade-off that exists between the flexibility that wireless links afford and the complexity they introduce, in part because of this very same flexibility that creates both opportunities for adaptation and alternative configurations and challenges associated with controlling these capabilities. One of the first problems we investigated was aimed at gaining a better understanding of whether or not the Bluetooth technology represents a viable option for building ad-hoc networks. In particular, the master-slave design of the Bluetooth protocol embodies a specific choice between enabling “spontaneous” communications between neighboring devices and providing control on how such communications are to take place. This design choice has implications for the complexity of building large-scale ad hoc networks with Bluetooth, because of the challenges it introduces in the topology construction phase that is required to enable end-to-end connectivity between nodes. Another topic we investigated is how to exploit the many distinct transmission resources, e.g., different channels, that wireless technology offers, as a means for improving overall transmission performance. In particular, we have attempted to develop an understanding of when, why, and how channel diversity can yield significant improvements in achievable transmission rates. In this context, our focus has been on exploiting the use of diversity at the “network” level rather than using more traditional “physical” layer approaches.
Penn Contributors
Publications
- R. Guerin, J. Rank, S. Sarkar and E. Vergetis “Forming Connected Topologies in Bluetooth Adhoc Networks.” In Proceedings of ITC’18, Berlin, September 2003.
- E. Vergetis, R. Guerin and S. Sarkar, “Can Bluetooth Succeed as a Large-Scale Ad Hoc Networking Technology?” IEEE J. Select. Areas. Commun., Special Issue on Wireless Ad-Hoc Networks, Vol. 23, No. 5, March, 2005.
- E. Vergetis, R. Guerin and S. Sarkar, “Improving Performance through Channel Diversity in the Presence of Bursty Losses.” In Proc. ITC’19, Beijing, China, August 2005.
- E. Vergetis, R. Guerin and S. Sarkar, “Realizing the Benefits of User-Level Channel Diversity.” ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, Vol. 35, No. 5, October 2005.
- E. Vergetis, E. Pierce, M. Blanco and R. Guerin, “Packet-Level Diversity - From Theory to Practice: An 802.11-based Experimental Investigation.” Proceeding of ACM MOBICOM 2006, Los Angeles, CA, Sep, 2006.