CoWPar: A D2D Communication Approach Without Pairing for Mobile Social Network in Proximity

Abstract

Mobile devices and the cellular network have been popularized and evolving in recent years. The increase of these devices may promote Device-to-Device (D2D) communications. However, current D2D communication technologies such as Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Ad Hoc, and Bluetooth are not available on devices or require human interaction in the pairing process. In addition, the cellular network is not available in many places and has partial or total communication infrastructure failures. To overcome this failure and lack of connectivity, and to allow D2D communication between devices in disturbing scenarios, we presented CoWPar. Based on the Wi-Fi infrastructure mode, CoWPar establishes the connection and performs data exchange without human interaction between the devices. Results of experiments performed in a proof of concept showed in practice that CoWPar allowed D2D communications with no pairing and also without the need to change the operating system (OS) of the devices, surpassing all the works available so far and thus contributing to the process of viabilization the paradigm of Pervasive Computing.