Methods of peer discovery in mobile Peer to Peer networks?

Question

I am looking for a list of ways of enabling peer discovery in mobile networks, preferably without centralising control. Obviously the different techniques have trade-offs, usually related to the scale/scope of the network.

My initial list includes:

• Bluetooth - good for very limited range
• Message Broadcast - good for LANs and private networks
• Central server - good for internet scale networks

Are there any other methods?

Answer 1

If you want to communicate directly between two specific mobile devices, the initiating device can act as a temporary server (e.g., ServerSocketConnection) and SMS the IP address/port to the phone number of the other mobile device. The receiving device can automatically wake up upon receipt of the SMS through PushRegistry techniques, extract the IP address/port combo in the SMS message and connect to the server socket connection.