A Generalized Random Mobility Model for Wireless Ad Hoc Networks and Its Analysis: One-Dimensional Case

In wireless ad hoc networks, the ability to analytically characterize the spatial distribution of terminals plays a key role in understanding fundamental network QoS measures such as throughput per source to destination pair, probability of successful transmission, and connectivity. Consequently, mobility models that are general enough to capture the major characteristics of a realistic movement profile, and yet are simple enough to formulate its long-run behavior, are highly desirable. We propose a generalized random mobility model capable of capturing several mobility scenarios and give a mathematical framework for its exact analysis over one-dimensional mobility terrains. The model provides the flexibility to capture hotspots where mobiles accumulate with higher probability and spend more time. The selection process of hotspots is random and correlations between the consecutive hotspot decisions are successfully modeled. Furthermore, the times spent at the destinations can be dependent on the location of destination point, the speed of movement can be a function of distance that is being traveled, and the acceleration characteristics of vehicles can be incorporated into the model. Our solution framework formulates the model as a semi-Markov process using a special discretization technique. We provide long-run location and speed distributions by closed-form expressions for one-dimensional regions (e.g., a highway).