Patent ID: 7693120

Claim:
A method of managing an ad hoc communications network, said method comprising the steps of: a) determining node connectivity for a plurality of nodes forming said ad hoc communications network, wherein determining node connectivity comprises representing connectivity of said plurality of nodes as a matrix ( ), direct connection between pairs of nodes being represented by ones in corresponding matrix locations and lack of direct connection between said pairs of nodes being represented by zeroes in said corresponding matrix locations; b) determining the diameter of said ad hoc communications network, wherein said diameter (Δ) is the least number of hops in the longest communications path between two connected said nodes in said ad hoc communications network; c) determining a connectivity function for said ad hoc communications network, wherein determining said connectivity function comprises applying a recursive operator (Ω) to said matrix, said recursive operator having the form Ω( )= , where Ω 2 ( )=[ω ij ], ω i ⁢ ⁢ j = ⁢ { 1 if ⁢ ⁢ ∑ k ⁢ a i ⁢ ⁢ k ⁢ a k ⁢ ⁢ j > 0 0 otherwise and Ω ψ ( )=Ω(Ω ψ−1 ( )); and d) determining whether said connectivity function indicates that said ad hoc communications network is connected.