HIDTN: Hybrid DTN and Infrastructure Networks for Reliable and Efficient Data Dissemination

Abstract

The development of future network architectures and of wireless devices needs to take the challenges in developing region into account. The unexpectedly intermittent connections due to sparse deployment, dynamic topology, or node mobility create a new challenge environment that has not been tackled before in both wired and wireless networks. Many developing regions’ network infrastructures have a lack of a reliable connectivity, such as frequent packet losses and bit errors due to low-quality hardware, and frequent network disconnections. Delay Tolerant Networks were developed to be used as an advanced step towards building a future reliable interplanetary Internet. It has shown significant potential for building systems to deliver public services to remote parts of developing countries. Most of the current work has focused on the problem of message delivery within a single region with the same network infrastructure and namespace. However, many deployments in developing countries will probably involve routing between multiple regions, based on technologies such as WiMAX, Satellites or Ad-hoc networks with short-range radio devices, as in the case of mobile phones with Bluetooth interface. In this paper, we consider the design and implementation of an infrastructure based solutions that effectively handle the intermittent connection in DTNs, for a scenario with hybrid DTN and infrastructure networks (HIDTN) which employs the global handover technologies to manage the performance of developing regions’ network infrastructures.