On-Demand Routing In Multi-Hop Wireless Mobile Ad hoc Networks

Chapter – 3

OVERVIEW OF MOBILE AD HOC

NETWORKS

3.1 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS OF MANET

In early 1970s, the Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) was called packet radio
network, which was sponsored by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA). They had a project named packet radio having several wireless terminals
that could communication with each other on battlefields. “It is interesting to note that
these early packet radio systems predict the Internet and indeed were part of the
motivation of the original Internet Protocol suite” [26].

The whole life cycle of Ad hoc networks could be categorized into the first,
second, and the third generation Ad hoc networks systems. Present Ad hoc networks
systems are considered the third generation [27].

The first generation goes back to 1972. At the time, they were called PRNET
(Packet Radio Networks). In conjunction with ALOHA (Arial Locations of
Hazardous Atmospheres) and CSMA (Carrier Sense Medium Access), approaches for
medium access control and a kind of distance-vector routing PRNET were used on a
trial basis to provide different networking capabilities in a combat environment.

The second generation of Ad hoc networks emerged in 1980s, when the Ad

hoc network systems were further enhanced and implemented as a part of the SURAN
(Survivable Adaptive Radio Networks) program. This provided a packet-switched
network to the mobile battlefield in an environment without infrastructure. This

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program proved to be beneficial in improving the radios' performance by making

them smaller, cheaper, and resilient to electronic attacks.

In the 1990s (Third generation), the concept of commercial Ad hoc networks

arrived with notebook computers and other viable communication equipments. At the
same time, the idea of a collection of mobile nodes was proposed at several
researchers gatherings. The IEEE 802.11[3] subcommittee had adopted the term "Ad
hoc networks" and the research community had started to look into the possibility of
deploying Ad hoc networks in other areas of application [28].

3.2 BASIC CONCEPTS OF MOBILE AD HOC NETWORKS

[29]
An Ad hoc network is a collection of mobile nodes, which forms a
temporary network without the aid of centralized administration or standard support
devices regularly available as conventional networks. These nodes generally have a
limited transmission range and, so, each node seeks the assistance of its neighboring
nodes in forwarding packets and hence the nodes in an Ad hoc network can act as
both routers and hosts. Thus a node may forward packets between other nodes as well
as run user applications. By nature these types of networks are suitable for situations
where either no fixed infrastructure exists or deploying network is not possible. Ad
hoc mobile networks have found many applications in various fields like military,
emergency, conferencing and sensor networks. Each of these application areas has
their specific requirements for routing protocols.

Since the network nodes are mobile, an Ad hoc network will typically have a
dynamic topology, which will have profound effects on network characteristics.
Network nodes will often be battery powered, which limits the capacity of CPU,
memory, and bandwidth. This will require network functions that are resource
effective. Furthermore, the wireless (radio) media will also affect the behavior of the
network due to fluctuating link bandwidths resulting from relatively high error rates.
These unique desirable features pose several new challenges in the design of wireless
Ad hoc networking protocols. Network functions such as routing, address allocation,
authentication and authorization must be designed to cope with a dynamic and volatile

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network topology. In order to establish routes between nodes, which are farther than
a single hop, specially configured routing protocols are engaged.

The unique feature of these protocols is their ability to trace routes in spite of a
dynamic topology. In the simplest scenarios, nodes may be able to communicate
directly with each other, for example, when they are within wireless transmission
range of each other. However, Ad hoc networks must also support communication
between nodes that are only indirectly connected by a series of wireless hops through
other nodes. For example, in Fig 3.1, to establish communication between nodes A
and C the network must enlist the aid of node B to relay packets between them. The
circles indicate the nominal range of each node’s radio transceiver. Nodes A and C
are not in direct transmission range of each other, since A’s circle does not cover C.

Figure 3.1: A Mobil Ad hoc network of three nodes, where nodes A and C must
discover the route through B in order to communicate.

In general, an Ad hoc network is a network in which every node is potentially

a router and every node is potentially mobile. The presence of wireless
communication and mobility make an Ad hoc network unlike a traditional wired
network and requires that the routing protocols used in an Ad hoc network be based
on new and different principles. Routing protocols for traditional wired networks are
designed to support tremendous numbers of nodes, but they assume that the relative
position of the nodes will generally remain unchanged.

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3.3 FEATURES OF MOBILE AD HOC NETWORKS

The mobile Ad hoc networks has the following features-

 Autonomous terminal
 Distributed operation
 Multihop routing
 Dynamic network topology
 Fluctuating link capacity
 Light-weight terminals

3.3.1 Autonomous Terminal

In MANET, each mobile terminal is an autonomous node, which may function

as both a host and a router. In other words, beside the basic processing ability as a
host, the mobile nodes can also perform switching functions as a router. So usually
endpoints and switches are indistinguishable in MANET.

3.3.2 Distributed Operation

Since there is no background network for the central control of the network
operations, the control and management of the network is distributed among the
terminals. The nodes involved in a MANET should collaborate amongst themselves
and each node acts as a relay as needed to implement functions like security and
routing.

3.3.3 Multihop Routing

Basic types of Ad hoc routing algorithms can be single-hop and multihop,

based on different link layer attributes and routing protocols. Single-hop MANET is
simpler than multihop in terms of structure and implementation, with the lesser cost of
functionality and applicability. When delivering data packets from a source to its
destination out of the direct wireless transmission range, the packets should be
forwarded via one or more intermediate nodes.

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3.3.4 Dynamic Network Topology

Since the nodes are mobile, the network topology may change rapidly
and unpredictably and the connectivity among the terminals may vary with time.
MANET should adapt to the traffic and propagation conditions as well as the mobility
patterns of the mobile network nodes. The mobile nodes in the network dynamically
establish routing among themselves as they move about, forming their own network
on the fly. Moreover, a user in the MANET may not only operate within the Ad hoc
network, but may require access to a public fixed network (e.g. Internet).

3.3.5 Fluctuating Link Capacity

The nature of high bit-error rates of wireless connection might be more

profound in a MANET. One end-to-end path can be shared by several sessions. The
channel over which the terminals communicate is subjected to noise, fading, and
interference, and has less bandwidth than a wired network. In some scenarios,
the path between any pair of users can traverse multiple wireless links and the link
themselves can be heterogeneous.

3.3.6 Light Weight Terminals

In most of the cases, the MANET nodes are mobile devices with less CPU
processing capability, small memory size, and low power storage. Such devices need
optimized algorithms and mechanisms that implement the computing and
communicating functions.

3.4 CHALLENGES OF MOBILE AD HOC NETWORKS

Ad hoc networking has been a popular field of study during the last few years.
Almost every aspect of the network has been explored in one way or other at different
level of problem. Yet, no ultimate resolution to any of the problems is found or, at
least, agreed upon. On the contrary, more questions have arisen. The topics that need
to be resolved are as follows [30]-
 Scalability
 Routing

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 Quality of service
 Client server model shift
 Security
 Energy conservation
 Node cooperation
 Interoperation

The approach to tackle above aspects has been suggested and possible update
[31]
solutions have been discussed . In present research work one of the aspects “the
routing” has been reconsidered for suitable protocol performing better under dynamic
condition of network.

3.4.1 Scalability

Most of the visionaries depicting applications which are anticipated to benefit

from the Ad hoc technology take scalability as granted. Imagine, for example, the
vision of ubiquitous computing where networks can be of "any size". However, it is
unclear how such large networks can actually grow. Ad hoc networks suffer, by
nature, from the scalability problems in capacity. To exemplify this, we may look into
simple interference studies. In a non-cooperative network, where omni-directional
antennas are being used, the throughput per node decreases at a rate 1/√N, where N is
the number of nodes [32]. That is, in a network with 100 nodes, a single device gets, at
most, approximately one tenth of the theoretical network data rate. This problem,
however, cannot be fixed except by physical layer improvements, such as directional
antennas .If the available capacity like bandwidth, radiation pattern of antenna sets
some limits for communications. This demands the formulation of new protocols to
over come circumvents. Route acquisition, service location and encryption key
exchanges are just few examples of tasks that will require considerable overhead as
the network size grows. If the scarce resources are wasted with profuse control traffic,
these networks may see never the day dawn. Therefore, scalability is a boiling
research topic and has to be taken into account in the design of solutions for Ad hoc
networks.

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3.4.2 Routing

Routing in wireless Ad hoc networks is nontrivial due to highly dynamic

environment. An Ad hoc network is a collection of wireless mobile nodes
dynamically forming a temporary network without the use of any preexisting network
infrastructure or centralized administration. In a typical Ad hoc network, mobile
nodes come together for a period of time to exchange information. While exchanging
information, the nodes may continue to move, and so the network must be prepared to
adapt continually to establish routes among themselves without any outside support.

3.4.3 Quality of Service

The heterogeneity of existing Internet applications has challenged network

designers who have built the network to provide best-effort service only. Voice, live
video and file transfer are just a few applications having very diverse requirements.
Qualities of Service (QoS) aware solutions are being developed to meet the emerging
requirements of these applications. QoS has to be guaranteed by the network to
provide certain performance for a given flow, or a collection of flows, in terms of
QoS parameters such as delay, jitter, bandwidth, packet loss probability, and so on.
Despite the current research efforts in the QoS area, QoS in Ad hoc networks is still
an unexplored area. Issues of QoS in robustness, QoS in routing policies, algorithms
and protocols with multipath, including preemptive, priorities remain to be addressed.

3.4.4 Client-Server Model Shift [33]

In the Internet, a network client is typically configured to use a server as its

partner for network transactions. These servers can be found automatically or by static
configuration. In Ad hoc networks, however, the network structure cannot be defined
by collecting IP addresses into subnets. There may not be servers, but the demand for
basic services still exists. Address allocation, name resolution, authentication and the
service location itself are just examples of the very basic services which are needed
but their location in the network is unknown and possibly even changing over time.
Due to the infrastructureless nature of these networks and node mobility, a different

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addressing approach may be required. In addition, it is still not clear who will be
responsible for managing various network services. Therefore, while there have been
vast research initiatives in this area, the issue of shift from the traditional client-sever
model remains to be appropriately addressed.

3.4.5 Security

A vital issue that has to be addressed is the Security in Ad hoc networks.

Applications like Military and Confidential Meetings require high degree of security
against enemies and active/passive eavesdropping attacker. Ad hoc networks are
particularly prone to malicious behavior. Lack of any centralized network
management or certification authority makes these dynamically changing wireless
structures very vulnerable to infiltration, eavesdropping, interference, and so on.
Security is often considered to be the major "roadblock" in the commercial
application.

3.4.6 Energy Conservation [34-35]

Energy conservative networks are becoming extremely popular within the Ad

hoc networking research. Energy conservation is currently being addressed in every
layer of the protocol stack. There are two primary research topics which are almost
identical: maximization of lifetime of a single battery and maximization of the
lifetime of the whole network. The former is related to commercial applications and
node cooperation issues whereas the latter is more fundamental, for instance, in
military environments where node cooperation is assumed. The goals can be achieved
either by developing better batteries, or by making the network terminals operation
more energy efficient. The first approach is likely to give a 40% increase in battery
life in the near future (with Li-Polymer batteries). As to the device power
consumption, the primary aspect are achieving energy savings through the low power
hardware development using techniques such as variable clock speed CPUs, flash
memory, and disk spin down. However, from the networking point of view, our
interest naturally focuses on the device's network interface, which is often the single
largest consumer of power. Energy efficiency at the network interface can be
improved by developing transmission/reception technologies on the physical layer.

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Much research has been carried out at the physical, medium access control (MAC)
and routing layers, while little has been done at the transport and application layers.
Nevertheless, there is still much more investigation to be carried out.

3.4.7 Node (MH) Cooperation

Closely related to the security issues, the node cooperation stands in the way
of commercial application of the technology. To receive the corresponding services
from others there is no alternative but one has to rely on other people’s data.
However, when differences in amount and priority of the data come into picture, the
situation becomes far more complex. A critical fire alarm box should not waste its
batteries for relaying gaming data, nor should it be denied access to other nodes
because of such restrictive behavior. Encouraging nodes to cooperate may lead to the
introduction of billing, similar to the idea suggested for Internet congestion control
[36]
. Well-behaving network members could be rewarded, while selfish or malicious
users could be charged higher rates. Implementation of any kind of billing mechanism
is, however, very challenging. These issues are still wide open [37].

3.4.8 Interoperation [38]

The self-organization of Ad hoc networks is a challenge when two

independently formed networks come physically close to each other. This is an
unexplored research topic that has implications on all levels on the system design.
When two autonomous Ad hoc networks move into same area the interference with
each other becomes unavoidable. Ideally, the networks would recognize the situation
and be merged. However, the issue of joining two networks is not trivial; the networks
may be using different synchronization, or even different MAC or routing protocols.
Security also becomes a major concern. Can the networks adapt to the situation? For
example; a military unit moving into an area covered by a sensor network could be
such a situation; moving unit would probably be using different routing protocol with
location information support, while the sensor network would have a simple static
routing protocol. Another important issue comes into picture when we talk about all
wireless networks. One of the most important aims of recent research on all wireless
networks is to provide seamless integration of all types of networks. This issue raises

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questions on how the Ad hoc network could be designed so that they are compatible
with wireless LANs, 3 Generation (3G) and 4G cellular networks.

3.5 ISSUES TO BE CONSIDERED WHEN DEPLOYING

MANET

The following are some of the main routing issues to be considered when
deploying MANETs
 Unpredictability of Environment
 Unreliability of Wireless Medium
 Resource-Constrained Nodes
 Dynamic Topology
 Transmission Errors
 Node Failures
 Link Failures
 Route Breakages
 Congested Nodes or Links

Unpredictability of Environment: Ad hoc networks may be deployed in unknown

terrains, hazardous conditions, and even hostile environments where tampering or the
actual destruction of a node may be imminent. Depending on the environment, node
failures may occur frequently.

Unreliability of Wireless Medium: Communication through the wireless medium is

unreliable and subject to errors. Also, due to varying environmental conditions such
as high levels of electro-magnetic interference (EMI) or inclement weather, the
quality of the wireless link may be unpredictable.

Resource-Constrained Nodes: Nodes in a MANET are typically battery powered as

well as limited in storage and processing capabilities. Moreover, they may be situated
in areas where it is not possible to re- charge and thus have limited lifetimes. Because
of these limitations, they must have algorithms which are energy efficient as well as
operating with limited processing and memory resources. The available bandwidth of

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the wireless medium may also be limited because nodes may not be able to sacrifice
the energy consumed by operating at full link speed.

Dynamic Topology: The topology in an Ad hoc network may change constantly due
to the mobility of nodes. As nodes move in and out of range of each other, some links
break while new links between nodes are created.

As a result of these issues, MANETs are prone to numerous types of faults

including the following-

Transmission Errors: The unreliability of the wireless medium and the

unpredictability of the environment may lead to transmitted packets being garbled and
thus received packet errors.

Node Failures: Nodes may fail at any time due to different types of hazardous
conditions in the environment. They may also drop out of the network either
voluntarily or when their energy supply is depleted.

Link Failures: Node failures as well as changing environmental conditions (e.g.,

increased levels of EMI) may cause links between nodes to break. Link failures cause
the source node to discover new routes through other links.

Route Breakages: When the network topology changes due to node/link failures
and/or node/link additions to the network, routes become out-of-date and thus
incorrect. Depending upon the network transport protocol, packets forwarded through
stale routes may either eventually be dropped or be delayed.

Congested Nodes or Links: Due to the topology of the network and the nature of the
routing protocol, certain nodes or links may become over utilized, i.e., congested.
This will lead to either larger delays or packet loss.

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3.6 APPLICATIONS OF AD HOC NETWORKS

Ad hoc networks are suited for use in situations where an infrastructure is

[39]
unavailable or to deploy one is not cost effective . The following are some of the
important applications.

3.6.1 Business Applications [40]

One of many possible uses of mobile Ad hoc networks is in some business

environments, where the need for collaborative computing might be more important
outside the office environment than inside, such as in a business meeting outside the
office to brief clients on a given assignment. Work has been going on to introduce the
fundamental concepts of game theory and its applications in telecommunications.
Game theory originates from economics and has been applied in various fields. Game
theory deals with multi-person decision making, in which each decision maker tries to
maximize his utility. The cooperation of the users is necessary to the operation of Ad
hoc networks; therefore, game theory provides a good basis to analyze the networks.
People playing multi-player games usually do so over the Internet, with a remote host.
This model is called the client-server model. In the case of multiple users, each user
just connects to a common server, and the server forwards the packets to connected
users. Fig 3.2 illustrates the client-server model.

Fig 3.2: Client-Server Model

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This client-server model suffers the following major drawbacks: a user cannot
play games where there is no Internet infrastructure, or when the connection is too
bad, or when the server is not available (either the server is down or refuses users
because the maximum number of users is reached). Another drawback is that it limits
the gamers from randomly announcing, discovering and joining a networked game.

3.6.2 Military Applications [41]

Military applications have motivated early research on Ad hoc networks. The

ability to quickly set up a network among military units in hostile territory without
any infrastructure support can provide friendly forces with a considerable tactical
advantage on the battlefield. For instance, each soldier can carry a mobile device that
represents one of the mobile nodes in an Ad hoc network linking all soldiers, tanks,
and other vehicles as shown in Fig 3.3. Recent advances in robotics have also
motivated the idea of automated battlefields in which unmanned fighting vehicles are
sent into battle. Supporting military applications requires self-organizing mechanisms
that provide robust and reliable communication in dynamic battle situations.

Fig 3.3: Soldiers, Tanks and other Vehicles carrying Mobile Devices

3.6.3 Emergency Operations [42]

Another promising application area for Ad hoc networks is emergency

services, including search and rescue and disaster recovery operations. As an example
of search and rescue, consider an airline that attaches small wireless devices to the life
jackets under each seat. Suppose that the plane has mechanical problems and has to
make an emergency landing in the water. Once search and rescue teams arrive at the
landing site, they are provided with detailed information about the location (the

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coordinates and potentially the depth) of the victims through the transponders. As a
result, the rescue teams can more effectively locate and reach the victims. The mobile
devices could also monitor the vital signs of victims, such as heart rate or breathing
rate, to prioritize the rescue of victims that are still alive.
A similar application arises when disasters, such as earthquakes, blackouts, or
bombings occur. The disaster may destroy existing communication infrastructure,
preventing critical contact among emergency workers. The emergency response teams
can set up Ad hoc networks quickly to replace the destroyed infrastructure, enabling
the teams to better coordinate their efforts. In emergency situation the wired networks
could be destroyed. There will be a need of wireless network, which could be
deployed quickly for coordination of rescue. An example is the design for future
public safety communications. A European project called Wireless Deployable
[29]
Network System (WIDENS) concentrated their work on this field. WIDENS have
an idea that using Ad hoc network to interoperate with existing TETRA network
which is used for public safety. The system structure is shown in Fig 3.4.

Fig 3.4: WIDENS System Structure

3.6.4 Home, Office, and Educational Applications [43]

Ad hoc networks also have applications in home and office environments. The
simplest and most direct application of Ad hoc networks in both homes and offices is
the networking of laptops, PDAs and other WLAN-enabled devices in the absence of

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a wireless base station. Another home application that falls within the Personal Area
Network (PAN) class is wire replacement through wireless links, as in Bluetooth. All
periphery devices can connect to a computer through wireless Bluetooth links,
eliminating the need for wired connections. Ad hoc networks can also enable
streaming of video and audio among wireless nodes in the absence of any base
station. For instance, UWB provides a sufficiently high bandwidth (in the order of
Gb/s) to support several multimedia streams. UWB-equipped nodes can
autonomously set up an Ad hoc network to stream high quality video and audio
between several computers through wireless UWB connections. Educational and
recreational activities can also benefit from Ad hoc networks. For example, students
attending a classroom can use their laptops to obtain the latest class material from a
professor’s laptop as the class progresses. Universities and campus settings, Virtual
classrooms, Ad hoc communications during meetings or lectures are some of the
educational applications of Ad hoc networks. On the recreational side, the mobility
and nomadic nature of Ad hoc networks enables richer multi-user games that can
incorporate user mobility and proximity into the virtual game environment.

3.6.5 A Vehicular Ad hoc Network [VANET] [44-47]

VANET is a form of Mobile Ad hoc network, to provide communications

among nearby vehicles and between vehicles and nearby fixed equipment, usually
described as roadside equipment. The main goal of VANET is providing safety and
comfort for passengers. To this end a special electronic device will be placed inside
each vehicle which will provide Ad hoc Network connectivity for the passengers.
This network tends to operate without any infrastructure or legacy client and server
communication. Each vehicle equipped with VANET device will be a node in the Ad
hoc network and can receive and relay others messages through the wireless network.
Collision warning, road sign alarms and in-place traffic view will give the driver
essential tools to decide the best path along the way. There are also multimedia and
internet connectivity facilities for passengers, all provided within the wireless
coverage of each car. Automatic payment for parking lots and toll collection are other
examples of possibilities inside VANET. Most of the concerns of interest to
MANETS are of interest in VANETS, but the details differ. Rather than moving at

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random, vehicles tend to move in an organized fashion. The interactions with roadside
equipment can likewise be characterized fairly accurately. And finally, most vehicles
are restricted in their range of motion, for example by being constrained to follow a
paved high way.

Fig 3.5: A Vehicular Ad hoc Network

In addition, in the year 2006 the term MANET mostly describes an academic
area of research, and the term VANET perhaps it’s most promising area of
application. In VANET, or Intelligent Vehicular Ad hoc Networking, defines an
intelligent way of using Vehicular Networking. In VANET integrates on multiple Ad
hoc networking technologies such as WiFi IEEE 802.11 b/g, WiMAX IEEE 802.16,
Bluetooth, IRA, ZigBee for easy, accurate, effective and simple communication
between vehicles on dynamic mobility. Effective measures such as media
communication between vehicles can be enabled as well methods to track the
automotive vehicles are also preferred. In VANET helps in defining safety measures
in vehicles, streaming communication between vehicles, infotainment and telematics.
Vehicular Ad hoc Networks are expected to implement variety of wireless
technologies such as Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) which is a
type of WiFi. Other candidate wireless technologies are Cellular, Satellite, and
WiMAX. Vehicular Ad hoc Networks can be viewed as component of the Intelligent
Transportation Systems (ITS).

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3.6.6 Wireless Sensor Networks [48-51]

Advances in processor, memory and radio technology will enable small and
cheap nodes capable of sensing, communication and computation. Networks of such
nodes called wireless sensor networks can coordinate to perform distributed sensing
of environmental phenomena.

Fig 3.6: Applications of Sensor Networks

Sensor networks have emerged as a promising tool for monitoring (and

possibly actuating) the physical world, utilizing self-organizing networks of battery-
powered wireless sensors that can sense, process and communicate. A sensor
network] is a network of many tiny disposable low power devices, called
nodes, which are spatially distributed in order to perform an application-oriented
global task. These nodes form a network by communicating with each other
either directly or through other nodes. One or more nodes among them will serve
as sink(s) that are capable of communicating with the user either directly or

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through the existing wired networks. The primary component of the network is the
sensor, essential for monitoring real world physical conditions such as sound,
temperature, humidity, intensity, vibration, pressure, motion, pollutants etc. at
different locations.

Wireless sensor networks can be considered as special case of mobile Ad hoc

networks (MANET) with reduced or no mobility. Initially WSNs was mainly
motivated by military applications. Later on the civilian application domain of
wireless sensor networks as shown in Fig 3.6 have been considered, such as
environmental and species monitoring, disaster management, smart home
production and healthcare etc. These WSNs may consist of heterogeneous and mobile
sensor nodes, the network topology may be as simple as a star topology; the scale and
density of a network varies depending on the application.

3.6.7 Wireless mesh networks [52-55]

Wireless mesh networks are Ad hoc wireless networks, which are formed to
provide communication infrastructure using mobile or fixed nodes/users. The mesh
topology provides alternative path for data transmission from the source to the
destination. It gives quick re-configuration when the firstly chosen path fails. Wireless
mesh network should be capable of self-organization and self-maintenance. The main
advantages of wireless mesh networks are high speed, low cost, quick deployment,
high scalability, and high availability. It works on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency
bands, depending on the physical layer used. For example, if IEEE 802.11a is used,
the speed can be up to 54 Mbps. An application example of wireless mesh network
could be a wireless mesh networks in a residential zone, which the radio relay devices
are built on top of the rooftops. In this situation, once one of the nodes in this
residential area is equipped with the wired link to the Internet, this node could be the
gateway node. Others could connect to the Internet from this node. Other possible
deployments are highways, business zones, and university campus.

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