Routing metrics in Delay Tolerant Networks

Routing in telecommunication networks rely on the definition of performance indicators called routing metrics. Popular routing metrics are the route throughput, end-to-end delay and jitter. However, in a delay tolerant network displaying link disruptions, these metrics may be questionable. This contribution proposes six metrics for characterising routes in a delay tolerant network. These metrics are: route lifetime, end-to-end delay, capacity, synchronicity and simultaneousness. Some of these metrics are borrowed (and possibly adapted) from classical networks, others are new. Each metric is formalised and examplified by showing how the use of these metrics helps to compute routes which are adequate for applications that may be deployed over delay tolerant networks.