Index distribution in a group-based resource sharing application

Abstract

This paper presents an application for locating resources, such as files or media streams, shared by users of a mobile network. The application is fully distributed without centralized components in the fixed network. The paper proposes a simple method to define groups using local information about each userpsilas social contacts. The groups are used in combination with user-defined policies to control the distribution of shared resources. The paper further provides an evaluation whether an index-driven approach is feasible for the given purpose. The approach aims to minimize traffic, which is particularly important in the mobile environment. To achieve this, a unique method is proposed for efficiently distributing the index by replacing flooding with direct updates. Bloom filters are used to compress the index in order to reduce the bandwidth and storage space. The solutions are evaluated analytically and compared using simulation.