Random Networks for Communication, from Statistical Physics to Informational Systems

When is a random network (almost) connected? How much information can it carry? How can you find a particular destination within the network? And how do you approach these questions - and others - when the network is random? The analysis of communication networks requires a fascinating synthesis of random graph theory, stochastic geometry and percolation theory to provide models for both structure and information flow. This book is the first comprehensive introduction for graduate students and scientists to techniques and problems in the field of spatial random networks. The selection of material is driven by applications arising in engineering, and the treatment is both readable and mathematically rigorous. Though mainly concerned with information-flow-related questions motivated by wireless data networks, the models developed are also of interest in a broader context, ranging from engineering to social networks, biology, and physics.

Massimo Franceschetti is assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, San Diego. His work in communication system theory sits at the interface between networks, information theory, and electromagnetic wave propagation.

Ronald Meester is professor of mathematics at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He has published broadly in percolation theory, spatial random processes, self-organized criticality, ergodic theory, and forensic statistics and is the author of Continuum Percolation (with Rahul Roy) and A Natural Introduction to Probability Theory.