Scalable and collaborative internet access for opportunistic people networks

We propose a Scalable and Collaborative Internet Access approach, called SCIA, for mobile web surfing. Unlike traditional approaches, the proposed scheme implements a Collaborative Forwarding algorithm that takes advantage of opportunistic wireless connections, and thus improves network capacity by exploiting the diversity of network mobility. Moreover, using the Layered Multiple Description Coding (LMDC) algorithm, the SCIA scheme allows the end user to 'preview' the web content, even before the data has been completely transferred. Using simulations as well as realistic opportunistic people network scenarios, we demonstrate that the SCIA scheme provides a better web surfing service than traditional schemes, and thus facilitates more effective web surfing on the go.