Distributed estimation of global parameters in delay-tolerant networks

Distributed estimation of global parameters in intermittently connected mobile networks is a challenging research issue. In this paper, we introduce and evaluate different approaches, based on gossiping techniques as well as population protocols. The performance of the mechanisms proposed is shown to depend heavily on the specific features of the underlying mobility patterns. We then present how the various methods proposed can be applied to dynamically tune the parameters characterizing a popular relaying strategy (spray-and-wait) for delay-tolerant networks. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.