Percolation model with an additional source of disorder

Abstract

The ranges of transmission of the mobiles in a mobile ad hoc network are not uniform in reality. They are affected by the temperature fluctuation in air, obstruction due to the solid objects, even the humidity difference in the environment, etc. How the varying range of transmission of the individual active elements affects the global connectivity in the network may be an important practical question to ask. Here a model of percolation phenomena, with an additional source of disorder, is introduced for a theoretical understanding of this problem. As in ordinary percolation, sites of a square lattice are occupied randomly with probability p. Each occupied site is then assigned a circular disk of random value R for its radius. A bond is defined to be occupied if and only if the radii R_{1} and R_{2} of the disks centered at the ends satisfy a certain predefined condition. In a very general formulation, one divides the R_{1}-R_{2} plane into two regions by an arbitrary closed curve. One defines a point within one region as representing an occupied bond; otherwise it is a vacant bond. The study of three different rules under this general formulation indicates that the percolation threshold always varies continuously. This threshold has two limiting values, one is p_{c}(sq), the percolation threshold for the ordinary site percolation on the square lattice, and the other is unity. The approach of the percolation threshold to its limiting values are characterized by two exponents. In a special case, all lattice sites are occupied by disks of random radii R∈{0,R_{0}} and a percolation transition is observed with R_{0} as the control variable, similar to the site occupation probability.