A context-rich and extensible framework for spontaneous smartphone networking

This paper presents the design principles, implementation, and evaluation of SPONET, a framework that has been specifically developed for spontaneous networking among smartphone users. SPONET has four distinct objectives, providing (1) a rich context for location-aware networking, (2) robust cognitive networking, (3) extensibility with various routing protocols, and (4) a convenient programming interface for delay-tolerant applications. The key technical challenges are, therefore, unsupervised place learning, network construction without user intervention, and a networking policy with low complexity. We have designed a place-learning algorithm using the properties of scanned Wi-Fi access points to identify meaningful places. SPONET provides dynamic neighbor discovery and data exchange mechanisms for autonomous networking. We have implemented SPONET on Android-based, off-the-shelf smartphones without any adaptation of their networking architecture. Experimental results show that the proposed system is indeed acceptable as a framework for various delay-tolerant applications in smartphones.