The impact of mobility models on nodes cooperation in mobile ad hoc networks

In mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), nodes usually have limited radio power and transmit in a very limited area. Communication beyond a node's radio range requires multiple hops between nodes, which in turn, requires nodes in MANETs to cooperate with each other in forwarding packets from a source to a destination. Problems in cooperation arise in self-organizing MANETs where selfish nodes exist. Selfish nodes are reluctant to forward other nodes' packets in order to save their limited resources for their own use. Thus selfish nodes can prevent multi-hop communication in MANETs. Many previous studies have worked on the problem of nodes cooperation and selfish nodes. However, it is not clear how the choice of mobility models in simulation studies affects the evaluation of the cooperation of nodes. While most studies employ a random waypoint mobility model, it is questionable if this model reflects realistic movement and thus may be cause for unrealistic results. In this paper, we investigate the impact of mobility models on the cooperation problem. Our results show that Random Waypoint Mobility and Steady-state Random Waypoint Mobility models have a similar impact on nodes cooperation while Self Similar Least Action Walk Mobility model differs significantly than the two models.