Enabling social interactions off the grid

The newer mobile social networking applications are built around encounters between users, and their success lies in efficiently discovering the presence of other users in the device's communication range. To take the first step toward enabling better use of Wi-Fi in social networking applications, a new protocol, dubbed Wi-Fi Direct, has been standardized that lets devices connect directly to each other over Wi-Fi. This effort for making peer-to-peer communication easier and more widespread has been boosted by the fact that Wi-Fi Direct has been integrated into the latest version of the Android OS, making it easier for developers to code applications based on the physical proximity of users. Searchlight is an asynchronous neighbor discovery protocol that strikes a balance between the two conflicting goals of low-power operation and small discovery latency. The CQuest neighbor discovery protocol embraces the use of the highpower radio during neighbor discovery without incurring the high overhead.