Abstract
Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are characterized by high dynamics in particular with respect to the formation of network partitions. The presence of unconnected partitions makes the deployed services inaccessible to some network participants. Service replication is employed as an approach to overcome this problem and to ensure higher service availability. Several protocols and algorithms for service replication in MANETs have been proposed. Most of these approaches apply topological analysis (like partitioning prediction) schemes to produce the required replication decisions. One approach, SDP, the Service Distribution Protocol, bases its decisions on analyzing interest in the service, an application layer concept. In this paper, we compare the performance of approaches based on these two criteria. First, we analyze protocols based on topology prediction and choose two typical representatives of this category, namely PSRP and SSRP. We then compare SDP as the only candidate using service interest to these two approaches. This comparison is based on an extensive set of simulation runs which are discussed in detail in the paper.