A packet replication algorithm for delay tolerant networks based on multi-metric
Abstract Utility function of packet is often used to decide how to replicate packet in DTN networks. But this method has more uncertainty and relies on a single performance metric. For this problem, in order to reduce the impact of a single metric uncertainty, multiple utility metrics are introduced in the new algorithm. A packet replication probability calculation method based on entropy weight is designed. By calculating the entropy weight of each metric, the algorithm obtains the replication probability of each packet and takes the probability as the priority of packet replication. Because of considering the two metrics of packet expected transmission delay and node encounter possibility, the algorithm effectively reduces the influence of encounter time distribution problem and direction prediction problem in the original algorithm, and reduces the uncertainty of utility function. Simulation results show that the algorithm reduces the packet replication number and the average delay, improves the successful packet delivery rate. The overall performance of the network is further improved.