Connectivity in multi-radio, multi-channel heterogeneous ad hoc networks

Future wireless networks are expected to integrate heterogeneous devices equipped with multiple radios and different characteristics. Therefore, it is important to understand how these heterogeneous radios can affect connectivity and overall multi-hop network performance. In this paper, we study the connectivity of a heterogeneous ad hoc network. We consider two types of nodes: nodes equipped with a single communication interface with communication range r, and dual-mode (DM) nodes, equipped with two communication interfaces with two different communication ranges r and r_f, respectively, where r_f >r. We assume the radios in the DM nodes operate in two different channels. We provide a theoretical analysis of connectivity in a linear network and we present simulation results for the two-dimensional case that show the impact of DM nodes on connectivity, broadcast latency and robustness in static scenarios