Title: DTN content sharing among commuters

Authors: Armir Bujari; Claudio Enrico Palazzi; Marco Roccetti; Gustavo Marfia

Addresses: Department of Pure and Applied Mathematics, University of Padua, Via Trieste 63 – 35123, Padua, Italy. ' Department of Pure and Applied Mathematics, University of Padua, Via Trieste 63 – 35123, Padua, Italy. ' Department of Computer Science, University of Bologna, Via Mura Anteo Zamboni 7 – 40127, Italy. ' Department of Computer Science, University of Bologna, Via Mura Anteo Zamboni 7 – 40127, Italy

Abstract: When discussing vehicular networking we have also to consider the multitude of commuters daily travelling to/from work through public transportation means such as buses, metros, and trains. Indeed, through their smartphones, commuters can generate traffic while moving, thus embodying a significant part of an urban communication scenario. In this context, we discuss a way to port the P2P paradigm into mobile disconnected networks composed by commuters' smartphones. Different from classical P2P file-sharing, users could exchange data in proximity with each other; they can also leverage on peer mobility and encounters in order to extend a requesting peer's reach-area to other local disconnected networks. This is achieved by implementing a DTN-like store-delegate-and-forward communication model over underlying social networks where a peer can delegate unaccomplished data downloads to frequently encountered peers. We show how involving frequently encountered peers/commuters improves the success ratio for the data search request while reducing useless communication overhead.

Keywords: mobile ad-hoc networks; MANETs; delay tolerant networks; DTN; opportunistic file sharing; mobility; working day movement model; mobile networks; public transport; urban communications; P2P paradigm; peer-to-peer; commuters; commuter smartphones; mobile phones; cell phones; data exchange; peer mobility; local disconnected networks; store delegate forward communications; social networks.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCPM.2012.049549

International Journal of Satellite Communications Policy and Management, 2012 Vol.1 No.2/3, pp.138 - 151

Published online: 30 Aug 2014 *

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