A Light-Weight Delay Tolerant Networking Framework for Resource-Constrained Environments

Abstract

Next generation communication infrastructures are characterized by customized network environments deployed for meeting the application/user specific needs as well as for achieving the required Quality-of-Service (QoS). The surge of mobile devices and their applications form a major bottleneck in realizing the QoS due to the resource constraints in mobile devices and the uncertain mobility pattern of users. Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) approaches are employed to cope with the issues in dynamic wireless environments such as intermittent connectivity, high error rate and packet loss, and network heterogeneity. However, the overhead required in terms of protocols, memory, and computational power in traditional DTN approaches may not be suitable for energy-constrained mobile devices. Therefore, we propose a Light-Weight DTN (LWDTN) framework for resource-constrained delay/disruption-prone wireless environments. We follow the traditional custody-transfer approach in designing the LWDTN framework with three types of bundles involving minimal header fields. The experimental results from a DTN testbed show the efficacy of LWDTN in delivering around 80% packets within the feasible time.