A quantitative analysis of partitioning in mobile ad hoc networks

The performance of distributed algorithms in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) is strongly influenced by the connectivity of the network. In cases where the connectivity is low, network partitioning occurs, e.g., due to node mobility. In this paper we introduce a set of metrics that describe several characteristics of partitioning in mobile ad hoc networks. We have conducted an extensive simulation study for a wide range of network scenarios to show the impact of node mobility, density and transmission range on the proposed metrics. We present some of the results we obtained, i.e., for the average number of partitions and the rate at which the partition in which an individual node is contained in changes.