Fixed and Mobile Infrastructure-Based Routing Protocol in Opportunistic Networks - Proceedings of All India Seminar on Biomedical Engineering 2012 (AISOBE-2012) - page 240

The Protocol
This section presents the detailed description of the proposed routing protocol. It
exploits the advantages of both infostation and MF-based routing techniques to
create an infrastructure based routing mechanism for OppNets. The architecture of
the proposed protocol is discussed first, then list of assumptions made while
designing the algorithm, followed by the detailed explanation of the algorithm.
Architecture
Figure 1 shows the architecture used for the proposed protocol.
The entire network area is geographically divided into square grids as shown in
the Fig. 1 . In Fig. 1 , IS represents the infostations. The size of the smallest block
depends upon the radio range and the power of the nodes and the ferries. The
smallest block is called a Level 1 zone. A combination of four Level N zones forms
a Level (N ? 1) zone. The intersection point of four Level N zones forms a Level N
Junction.ALevel N infostation is placed at a Level N junction. The nodes are
spread and can move throughout the network in a random manner. The functions
and responsibilities of various components used in this system are listed below.
Node: It can be any static or mobile networking device capable of sending and
receiving messages and can move between zones. It can transfer and receive
messages from the ferry. Nodes can communicate neither with each other nor with
the infostation.
Ferry: It is a high power mobile node responsible for carrying out communi-
cation in a zone. It communicates with nodes and infostation to deliver and receive
messages. It also tells the infostation to which all nodes is communicated with
during its one round in the zone. A ferry can move only in a Level 1 zone.
Infostation: It is a very high power device present at the junction of four same
level zones. The IS is not mobile i.e., it is static and fixed. It has a large buffer to
store messages received from the ferries. It keeps a record of the location of
various nodes present in the four zones connected to it. It also communicates with
ferries to facilitate interzone communication. Each Level N infostation is directly
connected to one Level N ? 1 Infostation that is its parent infostation and four
Level N - 1 infostations that are its children infostations.
Assumptions
The various assumption made in the design of the algorithm are listed below.
• Nodes can exchange messages only with the corresponding zone ferry. There is
no communication between the node and the infostation.