Wireless Multi-hop Networks: Current Research and Future Challenges

Wireless multi-hop networks, in various forms and under various names, are being increasingly used in military and civilian applications. Studying connectivity and capacity of these networks is an important problem. The scaling behavior of connectivity and capacity when the network becomes sufficiently large is of particular interest. In this paper, we briefly overview recent development and discuss research challenges and opportunities in the area, with a focus on the network connectivity. We demonstrate some intrinsic connections between the connectivity analysis and capacity analysis and point out the fundamental parameters determining the capacity of a wireless multi-hop network.