Forwarding in Opportunistic Information-Centric Networks: An Optimal Stopping Approach

By natively supporting in-network caching and name-based forwarding, ICN brings in features that are relevant to better support data transmission in opportunistic wireless networks. Such environments are highly challenged because of the node mobility and intermittent contacts. Therefore, forwarding packets to the right node at the right moment is critical to data retrieval performance. This article proposes a novel ICN forwarding strategy that leverages notable metrics, such as centrality and reliability, and the optimal stopping theory to statistically select the best next-hop forwarders and the time to perform the forwarding decision. Simulations with realistic mobility traces show that the proposed forwarding strategy outperforms other state-of-the-art solutions by guaranteeing shorter retrieval time and less overhead in terms of packet replicas.