Scalability of mobile ad hoc networks: Theory vs practice

Over the past decade, the theoretical or asymptotic scalability of Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) has been extensively studied. However, the implication of these asymptotic results on finite, brigade-sized networks with reallife assumptions is not well-understood. We present a two-pronged study on the scalability of military networks with assumptions and goals pertinent to such networks: 1) we investigate the traffic distribution characteristics in a typical military network and show that it follows a power law which exhibits very good scaling properties; 2) we introduce the notion of "in practice" scalability and derive an expression for the in-practice scalability of a simple example network. Our study indicates that MANETs may well be adequately scalable in practice even if they are asymptotically unscalable, and that military MANETs may also even be asymptotically scalable by virtue of their traffic characteristics.