A task graph based application framework for mobile ad hoc networks

We propose a task graph based framework for modeling and execution of distributed applications in mobile ad hoc networks. Our framework represents a distributed application by a graph composed of nodes and edges in which the nodes logically represent application sub-tasks that need to be completed and the edges represent associations, with certain attributes, between nodes. During application run-time, suitable devices that can complete the sub-tasks and can satisfy the attributes of the associations between them are selected on-the-fly to execute the application. New devices are selected to continue application execution if old devices become unavailable due to mobility. Thus, we decouple the application from a specific set of devices and allow its execution if there is at least one suitable device in the network for carrying out each of the required sub-tasks. We propose an application execution protocol to realize this vision and show simulation results which indicate that our approach is practical for environments with low user/device mobility.