PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF WIRELESS COLLABORATIVE NETWORK ON MOBILE DEVICES

Researchers and companies of the telecommunication sector have been working hard to enhance wireless network infrastructure to fulfill end users' needs for Internet connectivity. However, it is not easy to satisfy the high demands and expectations of end users always. There are some situations where Internet connectivity is not enabled due to location and environmental constraints. For example, network infrastructure breakdown during a disaster or the user's device is out of a network coverage area. Besides relying only on network infrastructure provided by telecommunication companies, one possible strategy to provide Internet connectivity in the ubiquitous environment is to exploit the functionality of end-user mobile devices as a tool to share Internet connectivity. This paper aims to identify the constraints and challenges of setting up Wireless Collaborative Network (WCN) using end user devices. To identify the constraints and challenges, the researchers reviewed and categorized past and current research focusing on collaborating mobile devices in the mobile ad-hoc network for communication and resource sharing. For validation, a simple test case was conducted which involved a few mobile devices in a random formation. Based on the findings, it was concluded that the biggest challenge of setting up WCN was the ability of mobile devices to provide bridging functionality. This paper also discussed the expected architecture of WCN and suggests simulation tools with relevant metrics to be considered in this research area.