Priority Based Buffer Management Technique for Opportunistic Networks

Opportunistic Networks are composed of wireless nodes opportunistically communicating with each other following the store, carry and forward mechanism. These networks are designed to operate in an environment characterized by high delay, intermittent connectivity and non-guarantee of the end-to-end path between the sender and the destination. The messages are transmitted on the basis of best-effort procedure. If the nodes are not able to forward the message for reasons like missing connectivity, insufficient buffer space or low-confidence among nodes, the messages are temporarily buffered according to the waiting-list policy and it is resumed when the connection is established again. The nodes drop the message on the basis of delete policy in a congested network environment. While there are multiple policies for effective buffer utilization in Opportunistic Networks such as FIFO, LIFO, and Random, none allow message transmission on the basis of message- type. In this paper, a Priority based Buffer Management Technique (PBMT) has been introduced that considers the priority of a message to address the aforementioned problems. This policy allows solving the underlying problem of transmitting messages in a random fashion, by transmitting them in a systematic and orderly method. The proposed PBMT shows considerable difference in routing processes. Simulation results that are provided, confirm that the proposed PBMT is more secure and efficient than traditional buffer management policies for opportunistic networks by using the Haggle INFOCOM 2006 real mobility data trace.