Impact of link lifetime on QoS in mobile ad-hoc networks

Abstract

The provision of quality of service (QoS) in mobile ad hoc networks is a challenging task. Several factors such as node mobility, propagation environment, interference and access medium impact the link characteristics and may cause radio links to break frequently. Contributing to the understanding of the link properties is a key element to achieve efficiency and network performance in ad-hoc networks. In this paper, we present an analytical framework which determines the link lifetime and path lifetime by taking into consideration both node mobility and interference. This result is used in order to investigate the network connectivity properties by analyzing the link availability of a given node. Furthermore, to further understand the implication of link properties, analytical results are used to investigate network metrics that can be used in the ad-hoc routing design and the analysis of associated performance.