Rethinking opportunistic routing using space syntax

Communication in mobile opportunistic networks is primarily achieved through a variety of store-carry-and-forward techniques, where node mobility is exploited for end-to-end data delivery. The main routing challenges these networks face is determining when to forward a message and which nodes to forward it to, ultimately resulting in varying delay and cost trade-offs. Routing solutions to date heavily rely on assumptions regarding the underlying environment and node capabilities, which may be unrealistic in many cases. In this paper, we propose building upon Space Syntax in order to make forwarding decisions with more realistic assumptions about the underlying environment. Space Syntax metrics have long been used in the field of architecture to model natural mobility patterns by analyzing spacial configurations. To adapt Space Syntax to opportunistic routing, we propose our popularity index metric, which is based on core Space Syntax metrics. This popularity index depends on factors in the environment that do not frequently change, and therefore, can be more realistically adopted and deployed when compared to other opportunistic routing algorithms. We introduce two simple forwarding algorithms based on the popularity index and compare their performance to other approaches. Our initial evaluation shows that Space Syntax based routing performs relatively well compared to state-of-the-art solutions with the added advantage of being more realistic and as a result easier to deploy.