Heterogeneous Attachment Strategies Optimize the Topology of Dynamic Wireless Networks

In optimizing the topology of wireless networks built of a dynamic set of spatially embedded agents, there are many trade-offs to be dealt with. The network should preferably be as small (in the sense that the average, or maximal, pathlength is short) as possible, it should be robust to failures, not consume too much power, and so on. In this paper, the authors investigate simple models of how agents can choose their neighbors in such an environment. In the model of attachment, they can tune from one situation where agents prefer to attach to others in closest proximity, to a situation where distance is ignored (and thus attachments can be made to agents further away).