Towards Real-time Event-based Communication in Mobile Ad Hoc Wireless Networks

Most previous work on real-time event-based communication has assumed infrastructure-based networks. The underlying assumption of this work is that application components are stationary and that a fixed network infrastructure exists to facilitate communication between them [1]. Ad hoc wireless networks comprise sets of mobile nodes connected by wireless links that form arbitrary wireless network topologies without the use of any centralized access point. Ad hoc wireless networks are inherently self-creating, selforganizing and self-administering [2]. Such highly mobile, dynamic networks do not satisfy the design assumptions for previous real-time event-based communication. In this paper we propose a conceptual model for real-time event-based communication in mobile ad hoc wireless networks. Our model is designed to alleviate the impediments to real-time event-based communication that are characteristic of a mobile ad hoc wireless environment, for example, dynamic connectivity, unpredictable latency and limited resources. The model we propose is the first to directly address the issue of achieving timeliness and reliability for real-time eventbased communication in dynamic mobile ad hoc wireless networks. In this paper we describe the impediments imposed by ad hoc wireless networks on real-time event-based communication, and propose techniques, in particular prediction, to help overcome them.