  It is highly desirable and challenging for a wireless ad hoc network to have
self-organization properties in order to achieve network wide characteristics.
Studies have shown that Small World properties, primarily low average path
length and high clustering coefficient, are desired properties for networks in
general. However, due to the spatial nature of the wireless networks, achieving
small world properties remains highly challenging. Studies also show that,
wireless ad hoc networks with small world properties show a degree distribution
that lies between geometric and power law. In this paper, we show that in a
wireless ad hoc network with non-uniform node density with only local
information, we can significantly reduce the average path length and retain the
clustering coefficient. To achieve our goal, our algorithm first identifies
logical regions using Lateral Inhibition technique, then identifies the nodes
that beamform and finally the beam properties using Flocking. We use Lateral
Inhibition and Flocking because they enable us to use local state information
as opposed to other techniques. We support our work with simulation results and
analysis, which show that a reduction of up to 40% can be achieved for a
high-density network. We also show the effect of hopcount used to create
regions on average path length, clustering coefficient and connectivity.
