A Self-Organization Framework for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks as Small Worlds

TL;DR

This paper introduces a self-organization framework for wireless ad hoc networks that employs directional beamforming and a new centrality measure to create small world properties, reducing path lengths while preserving network connectivity.

Contribution

It presents a novel distributed algorithm using traffic-based centrality to select nodes for beamforming, achieving small world characteristics in ad hoc networks.

Findings

Significant path length reduction achieved

Connectivity maintained despite long-range links

Traffic-based centrality effectively identifies key nodes

Abstract

Motivated by the benefits of small world networks, we propose a self-organization framework for wireless ad hoc networks. We investigate the use of directional beamforming for creating long-range short cuts between nodes. Using simulation results for randomized beamforming as a guideline, we identify crucial design issues for algorithm design. Our results show that, while significant path length reduction is achievable, this is accompanied by the problem of asymmetric paths between nodes. Subsequently, we propose a distributed algorithm for small world creation that achieves path length reduction while maintaining connectivity. We define a new centrality measure that estimates the structural importance of nodes based on traffic flow in the network, which is used to identify the optimum nodes for beamforming. We show, using simulations, that this leads to significant reduction in path length while maintaining connectivity.