A Bio-Inspired Beehive Model In Intra-Cluster
Heterogeneous Ad Hoc Networks
A Comparative Case Study
SREEDEVI. B (Ph.D) DIVYA JAIN. K
ASST. PROFESSOR P.G. STUDENT
DEPT. of CSE MSc Comp. Science
SASTRA UNIVERSITY SASTRA UNIVERSITY
SRC, KUMBAKONAM SRC,KUMBAKONAM
devi.dec12@gmail.com divyajaink@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The paper discusses a detailed compar-
ison between the nature-inspired prin-
ciples of the bee hive and the ad hoc
networking principles. The most strik-
ing similarity between these two is the
infrastructure-less features. Though
these are structure less topologies, there
are strategies involved to implement and
maintain the processes in the efficient
ways in these two phenomena. The pa-
per gives you a bird’s eye view on the in-
tra clustering process in ad hoc networks
which seem to have inspired from the
working of honey bees in their bee col-
lection process and management. This
also leads to open grounds for further
research in the area which could lead to
the further inspiration enhancement of
the efficiency of the ad hoc networks.
Keywords – Infra structure less,
Bee hive, Intra-clustering, Ad hoc
networks, QOS.
1. INTRODUCTION
We shall discuss separate functions of
these two infrastructures one by one. In
each section, you will find how the par-
ticular function is carried out by both
the systems and thus a comparison is
made.
1
ISHWARYA. N
B.Tech CSE
SASTRA UNIVERSITY
SRC, KUMBAKONAM
nagarajanish-
warya75@gmail.com
How are bees and ad hoc networks
connected?
Each cell in an ad hoc cluster is hexag-
onal in shape, where a honeybee hive is
also hexagonal. Queen bee is the head
of each swarm, as we propose a clus-
ter head (Super Node) to be the head of
each cluster. Worker bee gets nectar via
its proboscis and the nectar is handed
over to the guard bee whose work is to
carry it to the cell. The Guard bee does
not allow bees others than its family. In
ad hoc networks, unauthorized nodes are
not supposed to enter into a cluster and
checking the header ID does it. Queen
bee monitors the worker bees. This simi-
lar aspect is proposed as the cluster head
monitors the function of routing. When
queen bee is about to die, it initiates
election process to select the next queen.
In ad hoc network when master leaves
out its cluster it initiates election pro-
cess by selecting a node with high met-
ric. Worker bee finds its own hive by
the smell of its nectar and in ad hoc net-
works a mobile node will find its clus-
ter when it is within its radio frequency
range. A hive can be changed from one
place to another place when a problem
arises and we can compare this feature
with a cluster of ad hoc networks with
dynamic topology.
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2. THE COMPARISON
Formation of swarms or new homes in
bees.
When it comes to choosing a new
house to move, the queen has no
vote. Swarming is one of the most in-
teresting events in the life of bees. This
is how new colonies of bees are created
in Nature. In spring, when food is plen-
tiful, about half of the colony leaves the
hive, following the mother queen (young
queen candidates have been raised in ad-
vance to the take over the old house).
The moving bees first settle nearby,
where they form a swarm structure with
their own interlocked bodies hanging, for
example, from a branch (true swarming
is not seen in the apiary as the beekeeper
will immediately surround the swarm
with a box). The hanging swarm is well
structured: its interior consists of loosely
branching chains of bees that leave be-
tween them enough space for other bees
to pass; its exterior is formed by about
three layers of living bees, with just one
entrance to the interior.
The Queen is in the center of the
swarm. Scouts are coming and going
with reports about good spots for new
home. Nobody knows how it all works
but the swarm somehow reaches a de-
cision to fly off to one of these locations
and start their new hive. Before they left
their original hive they engorged with
honey to bring along as a food supply
to enable them get their new home off
to a good.
2.1. Formation of clusters in Ad
Hoc.
Initially all the nodes in the network are
put in state none. Then initial cluster-
ing is done.
When the node discovers the neighbor-
ing node, it first sends trigger message to
all and all the neighbors are flooded by
the trigger message. We assume that the
radio transmitting range of each node is
equal. The nodes in the clustered topol-
ogy assume different roles. The election
process is held and the elected cluster
leader nodes act as cluster head called
Super Node (SN)..
The nodes that are bordering with adja-
cent clusters and having connectivity to
the nodes in the neighboring cluster are
identified as Border Node (BN). The
Border node has more than one Super
Node.
Partial Authority Node (PAN) are
those elected by SN for load balancing
and cluster maintenance issues which are
adjacent to SN. The rest of the nodes are
classified as Member Nodes (MN). A
node that does not belong to any cluster
is none. If any new node that wants to
join in the cluster, it sends a trigger mes-
sage to the existing nodes and becomes
as a Member Node.
There are certain parameters through
which the metric is decided.
• The amount of traffic passing
through a particular node (Tr )
The number of routes, which
pass through that node (R).
• Priority of the node that may be
source, intermediate and desti-
nation with respect the number
of messages (Pr) .
• Transmission power (P), which
can be linked to the maximum
number of nodes (PAN, BN,
MN).
• The election metric ME is de-
fined as the additive metric of
the above values.
• i.e. ME = a T+r b R + c P + d P r
2.2. Nectar Collection (Communi-
cation in Honey Bees).
A bee, which finds flowers, flies back to
its hive to let others know about their
place, and describe the location of the
flowers to the other bees in the hive by
dancing! The most common dance is the
”Waggle Dance”. This dance is used to

inform other honeybees of the location
of a nectar source (a group of flowers).
Fig.1. Nectar Collection
To perform this dance, a bee will wag-
gle her body back and forth very quickly
and move forward in a straight line. The
direction of this line tells the other bees
the direction of the nectar source in re-
lation to the sun.
The length of her waggle indicates the
distance to the nectar source. At the end
of her waggle, she will walk in a half cir-
cle back to where she started. During
this time, the other bees will use their
antennae to ”smell” her because she car-
ries the scent of the flowers they need to
find.
Now the other honeybees know the di-
rection of the nectar source, the instance
to it, and the specific flower they are
looking for.
3. Communication among the
nodes in ad hoc network
The nodes in the cluster periodically
send HELLO messages to each other to
keep their contact alive and to make
aware of its presence. Each node updates
its table entry after getting the HELLO
packets i.e. its state and capabilities.
If any node does not receive packet for
certain duration it is expelled from the
cluster. If a Super Node enters into an-
other cluster, then it becomes a member
3
node to that current cluster. In this way,
the nodes of a cluster communicate and
alert each other.
The construction of the honeycomb
starts from the upper side of the hive
and continues simultaneously in two or
three separate rows downward.
3.1. Managing the honey comb and
the route:
.
Fig.2 Honey Comb and Route Manage-
ment
While a honeycomb slice expands in two
opposite directions, first the bottom of
its two rows joins. This process is real-
ized in an astonishing harmony and or-
der. Therefore, it is never possible to
understand that the honeycomb actually
consists of three separate parts.
The honeycomb slices, which started si-
multaneously from different directions,
are so perfectly arranged that, although
there are hundreds of different angles in
its structure, it seems like one uniform
piece.
For such a construction, bees need
to calculate the distances between the
starting and connection points in ad-
vance and then design the dimensions
of the cells accordingly. How can such
a delicate calculation be done by thou-
sands of bees? This has always im-
pressed scientists.
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3.2. Route management in ad hoc: 2. Each PAN maintains routing table

entry in order to balance the load from
SN. PAN does all local routing and final
updated entry is delivered to SN.

3. In case of local routing BN per-

form routing and update its entry with
PAN/SN.

4. Each MN performs local routing with

PAN. IF no PAN, then with SN.

5. In global routing, BN finds to which

the destination cluster it belongs and
Each table Entry (or a Database) con- performs routing i.e. inter-cluster rout-
tains the following information: ing. PAN maintains either locally or
(1) Destination address globally all routing entries and finally it
(2) Next Hop is updated in SN. (This happens if and
(3) Number of Hops only if SN has PAN, else it updates by
(4) Sequence Number for packets of itself.)
each message
(5) TTL
(6) Active neighbors of the route. Characteristics Bees Ad hoc
(7) SN address (Cluster id) Head of the net- Queen Super
(8) PAN address work Bee node
(9) BN address Security Guard Border
Bee node
Whenever a route is established, QOS Migration Worker PAN
specification is imposed for route main- Bee node
tenance. Each SN contains information Communication Waggle Packet
about its Cluster-id, PAN, BN and MN Dance Transfer
(local MN) Maintenance Worker PAN
Each BN contains information of ad- Bee Node
jacent SN, PAN, and MN.
Each MN contains information of its
4. Conclusion
own SN, PAN, and BN.
Each PAN contains information of its Nature and Science always go hand in
own SN, BN and MN. hand. Everything that science has dis-
covered has something or the other to
1. Each SN maintains a set of PAN’s. do with nature and its wonders. One
Communication between SN-PAN is such great connection is between the ad-
highly possible. All SN directs its rout- hoc mobile networks and the honey bees.
ing through PAN. SN may or may not We call it bio-inspired topology of ad-
have PAN with respect to the number hoc networks because of the unbeliev-
of MN’s. i.e. When the number of MN able similarities in the working, manage-
reaches a threshold level then SN elects ment and maintenance it shows in prac-
PAN nodes for load balancing. Else, it tical examples. A future research can be
may connect directly with the MN. done by expanding the horizon of com-
paring the inter-clustering architecture.
 5

The scope of this research was limited [7] Tinku Rasheed, Khaldoun al
to intra-clusters in order to have an in- Agha, Usman Javid, Laurent Rey-
depth analysis and comparison. naud,”Clusted –Quality based Hybrid
Routing for Large Scale Mobile Multi-
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