SCALE: a Content-Centric MANET

The authors present SCALE, a content-centric design for MANETs. When possible, SCALE favors routing based on content names to provide local and efficient content retrieval. Geographic hash table (GHT)-like resolution is used as a backup mechanism to ensure a target level of availability as well as scalability. This content retrieval routing decision is made by a mechanism that dynamically selects the best protocol while accounting for application needs. The author use content popularity as a fundamental criterion to switch between name-based routing and GHT-like resolution. Following a content-centric design, SCALE also supports on-path caching, where network nodes temporarily store copies of content for potential future retransmission on demand. However, we index data in the caches based on the content rather than the name of the content using fingerprinting: this strategy eliminates redundant data transmission when possible. Basic SCALE functionality had been implemented over a network of Galaxy Nexus phones running Android 4.1.1 which are connected in ad hoc mode. In this demonstration, publishing/requesting content by name, and returning content to the user with low latency, high availability, and little overhead in a dynamic wireless environment were demonstrated.