A survey of adaptive services to cope with dynamics in wireless self-organizing networks

Abstract

In this article, we consider different types of wireless networks that benefit from and, in certain cases, require self-organization. Taking mobile ad hoc, wireless sensor, wireless mesh, and delay-tolerant networks as examples of wireless self-organizing networks (WSONs), we identify that the common challenges these networks face are mainly due to lack of centralized management, device heterogeneity, unreliable wireless communication, mobility, resource constraints, or the need to support different traffic types. In this context, we survey several adaptive services proposed to handle these challenges. In particular, we group the adaptive services as core services and network-level services. By categorizing different types of services that handle adaptation and the types of adaptations, we intend to provide useful design guidelines for achieving self-organizing behavior in network protocols. Finally, we discuss open research problems to encourage the design of novel protocols for WSONs.