Opportunistic networks represents the natural evolution of MANETs in which nodes are mainly characterized by high mobility and intermittent connectivity, thus they must be able to communicate even if a route connecting them never exists. In this scenario, mobile nodes are not supposed to possess or acquire any knowledge about the network topology, which instead is necessary in traditional routing protocols for MANETs. Routes are built dynamically, hop by hop, while data flows towards the destination(s).
In this type of networks the network topology is really dynamic due to high user mobility and intermittent connectivity conditions. Therefore, data-centric communication paradigms should be preferred with respect to conventional topology-based paradigms. To support the high dynamism of these networks, we can exploit context information related to users, their devices and their social interactions but it is essential to provide efficient models and reasoning techniques to support effective routing and forwarding protocols.
Opportunistic Networking issues are at the base of most of the
research activities I conducted at middleware and application layers.
Therefore, in order to provide mobile applications with opportunistic
networking features, we implemented a dedicated module inside CAMEO,
aimed at implementing a context- and social-aware forwarding protocol.
In addition, we are currently studying WiFi Direct framework as the
current reference standard to deploy device-to-device communications
an, consequently, real opportunistic networks. We are conducting an
experimental study on WiFi Direct performances in real scenarios and
we are designing a smart forwarding protocol inside CAMEO based on
this standard.
For technical details please see Publications.