SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION TO IMPROVE ROUTING IN OPPORTUNISTIC NETWORKS

Opportunistic Networks are able to exploit social behavior to create connectivity opportunities. This paradigm uses pair-wise contacts for routing messages between nodes. In this context we investigated if the “six degrees of separation” conjecture of small-world networks can be used as a basis to route messages in Opportunistic Networks. We propose a simple approach for routing that outperforms some popular protocols in simulations that are carried out with real world traces using ONE simulator. We conclude that static graph models are not suitable for underlay routing approaches in highly dynamic networks like Opportunistic Networks without taking account of temporal factors such as time, duration and frequency of previous encounters.