Blossom: Cluster-Based Routing for Preserving Privacy in Opportunistic Networks

Opportunistic networks are an enabler technology for typologies without centralized infrastructure. Portable devices, such as wearable and embedded mobile systems, send relay messages to the communication range devices. One of the most critical challenges is to find the optimal route in these networks while at the same time preserving privacy for the participants of the network. Addressing this challenge, we presented a novel routing algorithm based on device clusters, reducing the overall message load and increasing network performance. At the same time, possibly identifying information of network nodes is eliminated by cloaking to meet privacy requirements. We evaluated our routing algorithm in terms of efficiency and privacy in opportunistic networks of traditional and structured cities, i.e., Venice and San Francisco by comparing our approach against the PRoPHET, First Contact, and Epidemic routing algorithms. In the San Francisco and Venice scenarios, Blossom improves messages delivery probability and outperforms PRoPHET, First Contact, and Epidemic by 46%, 100%, and 160% and by 67%, 78%, and 204%, respectively. In addition, the dropped messages probability in Blossom decreased 83% compared to PRoPHET and Epidemic in San Francisco and 91% compared to PRoPHET and Epidemic in Venice. Due to the small number of messages generated, the network overhead in this algorithm is close to zero. The network overhead can be significantly reduced by clustering while maintaining a reliable message delivery.