Stochastic Models for Opportunistic Networks

Opportunistic Networks are networks in which data delivery is achieved taking advantage of fleeting and random encounters between mobile nodes. To study such networks, their models must take into account the stochastic nature of the processes involved. In this work we show how results from epidemiology can be used to study the behavior of opportunistic algorithms. In particular, we apply a Markov model for a logistic birth/death process to an epidemic networking deployment. The method is based on analyzing the expected lifetime of messages in the network, and allows to model networks were nodes have a limited buffer capacity.