End-to-End Delay Modeling in Buffer-Limited MANETs: A General Theoretical Framework

This paper focuses on a class of important two-hop relay mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) with limited-buffer constraint and any mobility model that leads to the uniform distribution of the locations of nodes in steady state, and develops a general theoretical framework for the end-to-end (E2E) delay modeling there. We first combine the theories of fixed-point (FP), quasi-birth-and-death process, and embedded Markov chain to model the limiting distribution of the occupancy states of a relay buffer, and then apply the absorbing Markov chain theory to characterize the packet delivery process, such that a complete theoretical framework is developed for the E2E delay analysis. With the help of this framework, we derive a general and exact expression for the E2E delay based on the modeling of both packet queuing delay and delivery delay. To demonstrate the application of our framework, case studies are further provided under two network scenarios with different MAC protocols to show how the E2E delay can be analytically determined for a given network scenario. Finally, we present extensive simulation and numerical results to illustrate the efficiency of our delay analysis as well as the impacts of network parameters on delay performance.