Identifying the Intertwined Links Between Mobility and Routing in Opportunistic Networks

Mobility intertwines with routing protocols play a vital role in opportunistic networks. First and foremost, mobility creates opportunities for mobile nodes to connect and communicate when they encounter. A series of encounter opportunities can spread a message among many nodes and to a large area until eventual delivery. Further, mobility properties, when utilized by routing protocols, can greatly improve performance. This chapter will trace the research on mobility and mobility enabled message dissemination approaches, and will present a survey over mobility models, analytical results on motion characteristics, and routing strategies that largely rely on mobility. These three components intertwine and show a strong research agenda in opportunistic networks. The survey shows that analytical mobility properties and abstracted graphic features are significant to the success of some routing protocols. By emphasizing on the three components, the survey will help in developing novel integrated mobility and message dissemination solutions for opportunistic networks.