15hop

15hop refers to a concept in multi-hop communication where a route is constrained to no more than fifteen intermediate transmissions between a source and a destination. The exact number is not universal; "15" serves as a heuristic representing a balance between reachability, latency, and control overhead in dense ad hoc and mesh networks.

Although not a formal standard, 15hop appears in academic discussions of routing in resource-constrained wireless networks such as wireless sensor networks and mobile ad hoc networks. Researchers use the term to analyze how limiting hop counts affects performance metrics like end-to-end delay, packet delivery ratio, and energy consumption in simulation studies and small-scale experiments.

Design considerations for 15hop-based approaches include the trade-off between path length and reliability, how to select qualifying routes, and how to handle networks where a destination is beyond fifteen hops. Common strategies involve combining hop limits with other metrics such as link quality, residual energy, or geographic distance, and allowing exceptions when necessary.

Applications of 15hop-related ideas include emergency and disaster response networks, temporary wireless mesh deployments, and Internet of Things architectures where nodes have limited power and computing capacity. Critics note that a fixed hop cap may reduce reachability and complicate route maintenance, and that adaptive schemes often perform better in dynamic environments. See also hop count, multi-hop routing, energy-aware routing.