Heterogeneous Mobility Models and Their Impact on Data Dissemination in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks

When analyzing dissemination protocols in mobile ad-hoc networks the underlying mobility model is an important factor because it strongly influences the performance of these protocols. So far most of the research only dealt with homogeneous mobility models like the very common Random Waypoint Mobility Model and the Random Walk Mobility Model. In this paper we introduce a new model, the Area Graph-based Mobility Model, which considers the major characteristics of realistic scenarios like their heterogeneity. By analyzing the results of experiments using different broadcast protocols and by comparing our model to the Random Waypoint Mobility Model we examine the characteristics of the Area Graph-based Mobility Model. Furthermore we show, that in heterogeneous scenarios you should use adaptive broadcast protocols, otherwise an efficient dissemination in areas with differing topologies and densities is not possible.