Distributed node placement algorithm utilizing controllable mobility in mobile ad hoc networks

In this paper, we study a node placement problem in mobile ad hoc networks with controllable mobility. Especially, we consider mission-critical networks in which nodes have their own specific mission whose degree of satisfaction depends on their locations. In addition to accomplish their mission, nodes want to maintain a good communication quality with their neighbor nodes that also depends on their locations. In general, the best location of a node for its mission is not coincident with that for its communication quality, and thus it is important to control the mobility of a node to find its appropriate location jointly considering both its mission and communication quality. Hence, in this paper, we study a joint mission and communication aware node placement problem. We formulate the problem as a potential game and develop a distributed algorithm that converges to the Nash equilibrium. In addition, we also show that if some minor conditions are satisfied, our algorithm provides a global optimal solution that minimizes the weighted sum of costs for mission and communication.