Offloading through Opportunistic Networks / Identifying WiFi Devices

Content distribution in today's Internet is facing fundamental challenges. The amount of connected devices is rapidly increasing as mobile devices become more popular and various kinds of smart devices become connected. This constantly growing population of devices does not only increase the amount of transferred data per se, but also require higher bandwidth in order to keep up with today's online service standards. However, the available network service providers who are responsible for delivering the service may not always have the capability to provide the required bandwidth and reliability. This is primarily because of timeouts and packet loss caused by weak signal levels, network congestion or connection handovers -- affecting especially mobile content consumers. This further discredits Internet service providers and mobile network operators who are already struggling with providing the quality of service that they advertise.

One way to bypass this bottleneck is through offloading data over alternative networks. Our research studies the feasibility to offload over opportunistic networks consisting of peer mobile users and occasional WiFi. In our current ongoing work we study the wireless behavior of personal mobile devices. We also reveal characteristics specific to certain devices and show how much information device users are leaking without knowing it.