Optimal Energy-Aware Epidemic Routing in DTNs

Abstract

In this work, we investigate the use of epidemic routing in energy\nconstrained Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs). In epidemic routing, messages are\nrelayed by intermediate nodes at contact opportunities, i.e., when pairs of\nnodes come within the transmission range of each other. Each node needs to\ndecide whether to forward its message upon contact with a new node based on its\nown residual energy level and the age of that message. We mathematically\ncharacterize the fundamental trade-off between energy conservation and a\nmeasure of Quality of Service as a dynamic energy-dependent optimal control\nproblem. We prove that in the mean-field regime, the optimal dynamic forwarding\ndecisions follow simple threshold-based structures in which the forwarding\nthreshold for each node depends on its current remaining energy. We then\ncharacterize the nature of this dependence. Our simulations reveal that the\noptimal dynamic policy significantly outperforms heuristics.\n