SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORK LOOP DETECTION

1 . A method for detecting a communication loop of an ad hoc network comprising:

receiving, at a node of the ad hoc network, a message comprising a commutative value, wherein the node is associated with a node identifier and the commutative value pertains to node identifiers associated with one or more nodes along a path the message has been traversed along regardless of the order of the nodes; and

determining, with aid of one or more processors, presence of a loop based on whether the commutative value is identical to a previously obtained commutative value.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising extracting the commutative value from a predetermined field of the message.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the node functions as a broadcast node, relay node, or recipient node.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the message comprises a header portion and a payload portion.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein at least one of the commutative value is included in the header portion.

6 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising dividing the payload portion into a plurality of fragments each of which comprises a content identifier and a commutative value.

7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising computing an updated commutative value for each of the plurality of fragments individually.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the commutative value is obtained by performing a commutative operation to the node identifier and a previous commutative value of the message.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the commutative operation comprises at least one of addition, multiplication, and exclusive or (XOR).

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the message further comprises a message identifier.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the message identifier is uniquely associated with a source of the message.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing at least one of discarding, relaying, storing the message according to a predetermined reaction scheme after the node determines the presence of a loop.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the node supports multiple communication technologies.

14 . A method for detecting a communication loop of an ad hoc network comprising:

receiving, at a node of the ad hoc network, a message comprising a plurality of sub-contents, wherein each sub-content comprises a commutative value, wherein the node is associated with a node identifier and the commutative value is pertained to node identifiers associated with one or more nodes along a path each of sub-contents has been traversed along regardless of the order of the nodes; and

determining, with the aid of the one or more processors, presence of a loop for the plurality of sub-contents individually, based on whether the commutative value and is identical to a previously obtained commutative value.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising extracting the commutative value from a predetermined field of the message.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the node functions as a broadcast node, relay node, or recipient node.

17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the message comprises a message identifier associated with a source of the message.

18 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the commutative operation comprises at least one of addition, multiplication, and exclusive or.

19 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising performing at least one of discarding, relaying, storing the sub-content according to a predetermined reaction scheme after the node determines the presence of a loop.

20 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the node supports multiple communication technologies.