Throughput-delay tradeoff in mobile ad hoc networks with correlated mobility

Reference Point Group Mobility (RPGM) has been a practical mobility model used to efficiently capture the potential correlation among mobile nodes in many important applications. In this paper, we explore the throughput-delay tradeoff in a mobile ad hoc network (MANET) operating under the RPGM model and also a general setting of node moving speed. In particular, we consider a MANET with unit area and n nodes being divided evenly into Θ(n^α) groups, α ∈ [0,1], where the center of each group moves according to a random direction model with speed no more than v ∈ [0,1]. We determine the regions of per node throughput, average delay and their tradeoffs that can be achieved (in order sense) in such a network. For the regime of v =0, we first prove that the per node throughput capacity is Θ(n^-α/2), and then develop a routing scheme to achieve this capacity, resulting an average delay of Θ(max^1/2, n^1-α) for any α ∈ [0,1]. Regarding the regime of v > 0, we prove that the per node throughput capacity there can be improved to Θ(1), which is achievable by adopting a new routing scheme with an average delay of Θ(max{n^1-α, n^a/2/v}) for v = o(1) and Θ(n) for v = Θ(1). The results in this paper help us to have a deep understanding on the fundamental performance scaling laws and also enable an efficient throughput-delay tradeoff to be achieved in MANETs with correlated mobility.