Reflections on ad-hoc and partially disconnected networks

Abstract:

Coming from an applications perspective, I believe that it is time to reflect on the uses of 
ad-hoc and sensor networks, now that thousands of papers have been published in this area.  
As third-generation cellular networks provide ubiquitous, commodity-priced network access, 
one has to ask which niches ad-hoc and sensor networks can occupy.  Unfortunately, the network 
research community has a history of concentrating disproportionate amounts of research on topics 
that then find sparse applications, such as QoS, multicast and active networks. Thus, rather than 
"build-it-and-they-will-come", I believe we should ask what true communications needs are not being
met today or whether ad-hoc, mesh and sensor networks can offer cheaper opportunities. 
I will describe some possible applications that have received only modest attention, 
such as in-home networking.

In many situations, the density of nodes is insufficient to maintain a connected ad-hoc or 
wireless sensor networks. We have been experimenting with application-layer models that use 
data forwarding, emulating the web and email models, to complement cellular, mesh and ad-hoc networks.
In many cases, such applications may be cheaper than classical multi-hop networks, 
particularly as storage cost continues to decrease.

Biography:

Prof.  Henning Schulzrinne received his undergraduate degree in
economics and electrical engineering from the Darmstadt University of
Technology, Germany, his MSEE degree as a Fulbright scholar from the
University of Cincinnati, Ohio and his Ph.D.  degree from the University
of Massachusetts in Amherst, Massachusetts.  He was a member of
technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill and an associate
department head at GMD-Fokus (Berlin), before joining the Computer
Science and Electrical Engineering departments at Columbia University,
New York.  He is currently chair of the Department of Computer Science. 

He is a division editor of the "Journal of Communications and Networks",
and an editor of the "IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking" and the
"Surveys & Tutorials" and former editor of the "IEEE Internet Computing
Magazine" and "IEEE Transactions on Image Processing".  He has been a
member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Communications Society and
the ACM SIGCOMM Executive Committee, former chair of the IEEE
Communications Society Technical Committees on Computer Communications
and the Internet and has been technical program chair of Global
Internet, Infocom, NOSSDAV and IPtel and is General Chair of ACM
Multimedia 2004.  He also was a member of the IAB (Internet Architecture
Board).

Protocols co-developed by him are now Internet standards, used by almost
all Internet telephony and multimedia applications. His research
interests include Internet multimedia systems, quality of service, and
performance evaluation.

He serves as Chief Scientist for SIPquest Inc.  and as former Chief
Scientific Advisor for Ubiquity Software Corporation.  He is a Fellow of
the IEEE, has received the New York City Mayor's Award for Excellence in
Science and Technology, the VON Pioneer Award.