A hybrid view of mobility in MANETs: Analytical models and simulation study

We study the effects of node mobility on the wireless links and protocol performance in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). First we examine the behavior of links through an analytical framework and develop statistical models to accurately characterize the distribution of lifetime of such wireless links in MANETs. We compute the lifetimes of links through a two-state Markov model, and use these results to model multi-hop paths and topology changes. We show that the analytical solution follows closely the results obtained through discrete-event simulations for two mobility models, namely, random direction and random waypoint mobility models. Finally, we present a comprehensive simulation study that combines the results from the findings in simulations with the analytical results to bring further insight on how different types of mobility translate into protocol performance.