Topology Enhancements in Wireless Multihop Networks: A Top-Down Approach

Contemporary traffic demands call for efficient infrastructures capable of sustaining increasing volumes of social communications. In this work, we focus on improving the properties of wireless multihop networks with social features through network evolution. Specifically, we introduce a framework, based on inverse Topology Control (iTC), for distributively modifying the transmission radius of selected nodes, according to social paradigms. Distributed iTC mechanisms are proposed for exploiting evolutionary network churn in the form of edge/node modifications, without significantly impacting available resources. We employ continuum theory for analytically describing the proposed top-down approach of infusing social features in physical topologies. Through simulations, we demonstrate how these mechanisms achieve their goal of reducing the average path length, so as to make a wireless multihop network scale like a social one, while retaining its original multihop character. We study the impact of the proposed topology modifications on the operation and performance of the network with respect to the average throughput, delay, and energy consumption of the induced network.