A Framework to Calculate Delay-Optimal Oracle Solutions based on DTN Contact Graphs

Inhalt:
Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs) are one option to mitigate intermittent connectivity by buffering messages until another communication opportunity arises. In such networks, the available contacts have the most significant impact on the protocol performance especially regarding the experienced delay. Routing is done either by flooding messages to any other node upon a contact or according to metrics derived from the contact history or patterns. The contacts between nodes can be described as a time varying graph. In this paper, we present a solution to calculate the optimal routing decision guaranteeing minimum delay based on message generation times and the contact graph of a given network. Finally, we compare our oracle solution with simulation results of existing routing protocols to show the potential for further protocol enhancements based on a disaster scenario.