Alessandro Panconesi, a professor of computer science at Sapienza University of Rome and an expert on network analysis, concluded that the algorithm is "an interesting contribution."

"Essentially, a node in this network can wake up and start operating by using this algorithm, and if every node in the network does the same, then essentially you give communication capability to the entire network," Panconesi said in a statement.

He cautioned, however, that this algorithm in its current form is still too elaborate for simple computational devices. Because devices on ad hoc networks tend to have limited computational power and battery life, they require very simple networking protocols. "The algorithm is very expensive in terms of the information that it needs to exchange," he said, adding that a simplification of this algorithm would be feasible.

The IDG News Service