The capacity of sparse networks under controlled mobility

Controlled mobility was recently shown to be an effective approach to support routing in sparse ad hoc or sensor networks. We propose a scheme utilizing mobile elements that cooperate in collecting and delivering the data. We analyze its performance and establish bounds on the average and worst-case delay. We establish that under the proposed scheme, constant per-node throughput is achievable within constant maximum (worst-case) delay as the network size grows. Using simulation, we compare our scheme with an alternative proposed earlier in the literature. The results show that our scheme dominates the alternative.