An adaptive multiple spray-and-wait routing algorithm based on social circles in delay tolerant networks

In delay tolerant networks (DTN), the social attributes of nodes show long-term stability, which can be leveraged for more effective routing. In this paper, we first present a novel way of constructing social circles based on the node clustering phenomena in DTN. Then, considering that the forwarding capability of nodes is significantly different, we propose a spray strategy based on social circles (named SC-SS) to improve the spray-and-wait routing algorithm. SC-SS selects the next hop based on the social circle of nodes in the spray phase. Instead of fixing the initial number of copies, we design an adaptive multiple spray-and-wait routing algorithm based on social circles (named SC-AMSW) to further improve the performance of SC-SS. SC-AMSW selectively sprays messages multiple times in the wait phase and determines an appropriate number of redundant message copies based on delivery predictability. We conduct extensive simulations to confirm the effectiveness of our proposed routing algorithms in DTN.