ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces two types of information dissemination in social-featured opportunistic networks: unicast and multicast. Unicast enables one-to-one communication in opportunistic networks, where one mobile node sends information to another node. Multicast enables one-to-many communication where one mobile node sends information to a set of destinations. Information dissemination addresses the issue of sending a piece of information from a source node to one or more destination(s), which is a key function of communication in opportunistic networks. Since mobile devices can exchange information only when humans come into contact, such networks are tightly coupled with human social networks. The chapter presents the modeling of opportunistic network as a social graph and introduces the definitions of social features and social properties. It proposes the information dissemination strategies for unicast and information dissemination strategies for multicast in opportunistic networks.
