A message delivery method for highly mobile agents based on clustering

Abstract

AbstractThis paper discusses methods of sending messages from a source that created a mobile agent (MA) to the MA, which has moved. These methods include the Home‐Proxy method and Broadcast method. However, with these techniques, it is possible that the transmitted messages may not be delivered to an MA that is frequently moving around on the network. A method for resolving this problem has been proposed by Murphy and Picco (hereafter termed the Murphy method). Although the Murphy method can reliably deliver messages to the MA, it does not take into consideration the time that elapses until the messages are delivered to the MA. The authors propose a method for delivering messages in the shortest possible time (hereafter termed the clustering method) by partitioning the entire network into multiple areas (clusters) to improve this Murphy method. This paper, proposes the clustering method precisely and in detail. In addition, the validity of this method is certified by performing a logical verification. Simulation experiments are performed to compare the method and Murphy method to prove the effectiveness of the method by verifying that the time required to deliver messages to the MA decreases if the time that an MA stays at a node is not short and that the number of messages decreases if the time that an MA stays at a node is short. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 1, 89(1): 67–80, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley. com). DOI 10.1002/ecja.20184