Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Current Status and Future Trends

Jonathan Loo, Jaime Lloret Mauri, Jesús Hamilton Ortiz, Jonathan Loo, Jaime Lloret Mauri, Jesús Hamilton Ortiz

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781439856505
• eBook ISBN: 9781466513143
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Computer Networking
• Index: Computer Science

Guiding readers through the basics of these rapidly emerging networks to more advanced concepts and future expectations, this book examines the most pressing research issues in Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs). Leading researchers, industry professionals, and academics provide an authoritative perspective of the state of the art in MANETs. The book includes surveys of recent publications that investigate key areas of interest such as limited resources and the mobility of mobile nodes. It considers routing, multicast, energy, security, channel assignment, and ensuring quality of service.

III

FUTURE NETWORKS INSPIRED BY MANET

Chapter 12

Connecting Moving Smart Objects to the Internet: Potentialities and Issues When Using Mobile Ad Hoc Network Technologies

Bernardo Leal and Luigi Atzori

Contents

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Smart Objects on MANETs

12.3 Global Routing

12.3.1 IP Mobility

12.3.2 External Routes

12.4 Local Routing

12.4.1 Routing Protocols

12.4.1.1 Proactive Protocols

12.4.1.2 Reactive Protocols

12.4.2 Agent/Gateway Discovery

12.4.2.1 Proactive Approach

12.4.2.2 Reactive Approach

12.5 Current Status of Object Mobility

12.5.1 Inter-MANET Handover Approaches

12.5.2 Proposed Schemes

12.6 Future Trends

12.6.1 Performance Evaluation

12.6.2 Future Improvements

12.7 Conclusions

References

The Internet of Things is evolving to enable the seamless communication of moving smart objects with nodes on the Internet. When these objects move away from structured infrastructures, the mobile ad hoc network (MANET) becomes one of the most appropriate technologies to connect them to the Internet. In this chapter, issues about MANET integration with the Internet are considered, with particular attention to the handover performance in the scenario where moving objects roam between different multihomed hybrid ad hoc networks. We first review the mechanisms that mainly affect the management of the handover procedure, which are the IP mobility, the external route computation, the ad hoc routing, and the gateway discovery. We then provide a performance evaluation of the handover when different adjacent MANET subnetworks are connected to the Internet by means of their own gateway and mobile IP agent. We conclude that the adoption of reactive routing protocols combined with a proactive gateway discovery procedure is highly recommended and that the use of multiple gateway routes and early agent preregistration is crucial for seamless handovers.

12.1 Introduction

The expression “Internet of Things” is used to refer to the idea of a global infrastructure of interconnected physical objects [1]. This concept is mainly motivated by the growing adoption of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies, which have been widely used for tracking objects, people, and animals, making use of an architecture that combines the use of simple RFID tags and extensive and complicated interconnection of RFID readers. This architecture optimally supports tracking physical objects within well-defined areas (such as stores), but it limits the sensing capabilities and deployment flexibility that other challenging application scenarios may require.

An alternative architectural model for the Internet of Things may be a more loosely coupled, decentralized system of smart objects with sensing, processing, and networking capabilities. In contrast to simple RFID tags, smart objects may carry segments of application logic that may let them evaluate their local environment, and by means of a unique addressing scheme, probably IP, they interact with each other and with human users, wherever they are.

Several wireless technologies allow mobile smart objects to increase their pervasive presence around us. Wi-Fi, WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), and sensing and cellular networks are examples of technologies that may support object interconnection, but when they move away from network structures, MANETs may be the recommended way to interconnect them to the Internet. In fourth-generation (4G) wireless systems, we consider ubiquitous computing and universal access for mobile users (or objects) that wish to connect to the Internet through heterogeneous technologies and that wish to maintain connectivity globally without interrupting their ongoing communications even when they cross from one type of network to another or when their connection paths change the gateways their packets go through [2]. Figure 12.1 shows an integration of different communication technologies, including including MANETs, Universal Mobil Telecommunication Systems (UMTS), and Code Division Multiplexing (CDMA) systems, which permit object’s ubiquitous communication. In such a type of scenario, a farmer may receive real-time information in his mobile phone about data directly coming from Sensors on his caws in a different country.

Figure 12.1 Fourth-generation heterogeneous wireless systems.

In a way different to traditional fixed IP networks, members of MANETs communicate over multihop relays by equally participating in the routing information distribution and maintenance by using the same ad hoc routing protocol, which must be adaptive to topological changes and traffic demands. To interconnect a MANET with other types of networks, such as Internet, any MANET object (or router) that has connectivity with both types of networks may effectively become a gateway between the ad hoc domain and the Internet.

The integration of MANETs with fixed infrastructures must be carefully studied to evaluate how it performs. In such an integrated scenario, commonly known as hybrid ad hoc network, a MANET can be seen as an extension to the existing infrastructure, whose mobile objects may seamlessly communicate with nodes on the fixed network, forwarding packets throughout the gateways found on the edge that join both types of networks. If during an ongoing communication between an object on a wireless network and a node on a fixed network, a gateway change occurs on their traffic path, some packets may get lost, or their delay variation may increase, which may affect communication performance.

MANET integration with fixed networks is a research topic that has received great attention in recent years, but not so much has been argued about seamless handover between hybrid MANET subnetworks, which is an important topic when we think about object ubiquitous and universal communication in 4G systems. In this chapter, issues about MANET integration with the Internet are considered, with particular attention to the performance when moving objects roam between different MANET subnetworks in a multihomed hybrid ad hoc network. After presenting the considered scenario, we review the mechanisms that mainly affect the management of the handover procedure, which are the IP mobility, the external route computation, the ad hoc routing, and the gateway discovery. We then provide a performance evaluation of the handovers when different adjacent MANET subnetworks are connected to the Internet by means of their own gateways.

12.2 Smart objects on MANETs

Hybrid ad hoc networks are composed of three different parts: (1) the fixed Internet, where traditional internal gateway protocols are set to find suitable routes; (2) the MANET, where mobile objects running a routin...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Contributors
• Section I Fundamental of Manet—Modeling and Simulation
• Section II Communication Protocols of Manet
• Section III Future Networks Inspired by Manet
• Index