Location aware, dependable multicast for mobile ad hoc networks

This paper introduces dynamic source multicast (DSM), a new protocol for multi-hop wireless (i.e., ad hoc) networks for the multicast of a data packet from a source node to a group of mobile nodes in the network. The protocol assumes that, through the use of positioning system devices, each node knows its own geographic location and the current (global) time, and it is able to efficiently spread these measures to all other nodes. When a packet is to be multicast, the source node first locally computes a snapshot of the complete network topology from the collected node measures. A Steiner (i.e., multicast) tree for the addressed multicast group is then computed locally based on the snapshot, rather than maintained in a distributed manner. The resulting Steiner tree is then optimally encoded by using its unique Pr

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u" height="11" width="9">fer sequence and is included in the packet header as in, and extending the length of the header by no more than, the header of packets in source routing (unicast) techniques. We show that all the local computations are executed in polynomial time. More specifically, the time complexity of the local operation of finding a Steiner tree, and the encoding/decoding procedures of the related Prüfer sequence, is proven to be O(n²), where n is the number of nodes in the network. The protocol has been simulated in ad hoc networks with 30 and 60 nodes and with different multicast group sizes. We show that DSM delivers packets to all the nodes in a destination group in more than 90% of the cases. Furthermore, compared to flooding, DSM achieves improvements of up to 50% on multicast completion delay.     

Epidemic-based reliable and adaptive multicast for mobile ad hoc networks

An emerging approach to distributed systems exploits the self-organization, autonomy and robustness of biological epidemics. In this article, we propose a novel bio-inspired protocol: EraMobile (Epidemic-based Reliable and Adaptive Multicast for Mobile ad hoc networks). We also present extensive performance analysis results for it. EraMobile supports group applications that require high reliability. The protocol aims to deliver multicast data reliably with minimal network overhead, even under adverse network conditions. With an epidemic-based multicast method, it copes with dynamic and unpredictable topology changes due to mobility. Our epidemic mechanism does not require maintaining any tree- or mesh-like structure for multicasting. It requires neither a global nor a partial view of the network, nor does it require information about neighboring nodes and group members. In addition, it substantially lowers overhead by eliminating redundant data transmissions. Another distinguishing feature is its ability to adapt to varying node densities. This lets it deliver data reliably in both sparse networks (where network connectivity is prone to interruptions) and dense networks (where congestion is likely). We describe the working principles of the protocol and study its performance through comparative and extensive simulations in the ns-2 network simulator.     

Review of multicast routing mechanisms in mobile ad hoc networks

Frequent interactions among the group members of distributed wireless network environment may be facilitated with the help of Mobile Ad Hoc NETworks (MANETs). Some of the group-oriented applications include disaster management, battlefields, audio/video conferencing, e-commerce, e-education, etc. Group communication demands dynamic construction of efficient and reliable multicast routes under user mobility and varying channel conditions. Multicast routing mechanisms in MANETs have been consistently improved by researchers considering various performance measures such as energy efficient route establishment, packet delivery ratio, quicker and faster proactive route recovery, network life time, reliability, Quality of Service (QoS) based on bandwidth, delays, jitters, and security. The paper focuses on most recent reliable and QoS based multicast routing mechanisms that helps in multimedia communication over MANETs. The mechanisms are considered under different topological routing categories such as mesh, tree, zone and hybrid. We provide an overview of existing multicast routing mechanisms based on routing categories and point to directions for future research and development.     

Improving routing distance for geographic multicast with Fermat points in mobile ad hoc networks

In mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), each node has the ability to transmit, receive, and route packets, and also moves through the field either randomly or in accordance with a pre-planned route. For enhancing the performance of MANETs, reducing the routing distance is a primary concern. For either ad hoc or static networks, the problem of minimizing the overall routing distance during multicasting is NP-complete. Therefore, it is difficult to determine an optimal solution. This paper presents an efficient geographic multicast protocol, designated as GMFP, based on the use of Fermat points. The objective of GMFP is to improve the overall routing distance for multicast tasks. Through a series of simulations, it is shown that GMFP outperforms the conventional Position-Based Multicast protocol and FERMA protocol in terms of the total routing distance, the packet transmission delay, the packet delivery ratio, and the node energy consumption. The performance improvements provided by GMFP are apparent as the scale of the network topology increases.     

Self-stabilizing dynamic mutual exclusion for mobile ad hoc networks

We propose a self-stabilizing mutual exclusion algorithm for mobile ad hoc networks, in which the composition of processors that want to enter the critical section can change dynamically. Our algorithm is based on dynamic virtual rings formed by circulating tokens. The algorithm always guarantees mutual exclusion and it guarantees different levels of progress under different levels of performance of the token circulation in the presence of mobility and message loss. Rigorous proofs of correctness and performance are given.     

Dynamic genetic algorithms for the dynamic load balanced clustering problem in mobile ad hoc networks

Clustering can help aggregate the topology information and reduce the size of routing tables in a mobile ad hoc network (MANET). To achieve fairness and uniform energy consumption, each clusterhead should ideally support the same number of clustermembers. However, a MANET is a dynamic and complex system and its one important characteristic is the topology dynamics, that is, the network topology changes over time due to the factors such as energy conservation and node movement. Therefore, in a MANET, an effective clustering algorithm should efficiently adapt to each topology change and produce the new load balanced clusterhead set quickly. The maintenance of the cluster structure should aim to keep it as stable as possible to reduce overhead. To meet this requirement, the new solution should keep as many good parts in the previous solution as possible. In this paper, we first formulate the dynamic load balanced clustering problem (DLBCP) into a dynamic optimization problem. Then, we propose to use a series of dynamic genetic algorithms (GAs) to solve the DLBCP in MANETs. In these dynamic GAs, each individual represents a feasible clustering structure and its fitness is evaluated based on the load balance metric. Various dynamics handling techniques are introduced to help the population to deal with the topology changes and produce closely related solutions in good quality. The experimental results show that these GAs can work well for the DLBCP and outperform traditional GAs that do not consider dynamic network optimization requirements.     

Fast deterministic broadcast and gossiping algorithms for mobile ad hoc networks

We present a mobility resilient deterministic broadcast algorithm with worst-case time complexity of O(nlogn)$O(nlogn)$ for ad hoc networks where the nodes possess collision detection capabilities; n$n$ is the total number of nodes in the network. The algorithm is based on a breadth-first traversal of the network and allows multiple simultaneous transmissions by the nodes. The idea of this broadcast algorithm is then extended to develop a mobility resilient deterministic gossiping algorithm having O(Dnlogn)$O(Dnlogn)$ worst-case run time (D$D$ is the diameter of the network graph), which is an improvement over the existing algorithms. Simulation results show that on an average, the time for completing the broadcast or gossiping is significantly lower than the theoretical worst-case time requirement.     

Distributed reformation of core-based group-shared multicast trees in mobile ad hoc networks

This paper proposes a method to reduce the cost of a core-based group-shared multicast tree, where the cost is evaluated by the total bandwidth consumption of multicasting packets among all group members. Due to the broadcast nature of radio transmissions, we find that the challenge of determining minimum cost multicast tree can be approximated by finding the multicast tree with a minimum number of non-leaves (the minimum non-leaf multicast tree problem). However, we also find that the minimum non-leaf multicast tree problem is NP-complete. Thus, a method is proposed to dynamically reduce the number of non-leaves in an existing multicast tree. Experimental results show that our method reduces the cost of the multicast tree in both geometrically and randomly distributed network models and the random waypoint mobility model.     

Prioritized overlay multicast in mobile ad hoc environments

Many proposed routing protocols for manets require nodes to maintain and update complicated route information, which incurs significant overhead when groups have different priorities. To address this problem, some researchers have begun focusing on application-layer, or overlay, multicast in which an overlay network forms a virtual network consisting of only member nodes atop the physical infrastructure. We propose a prototype of prioritized overlay multicast for manets in which participating nodes can carry out multiple functions and thus be associated with more than one overlay tree.     

A virtual subnet scheme on clustering algorithms for mobile ad hoc networks

Resolving the broadcast storm problem is an important issue in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). In this paper, we propose an approach for constructing a virtual subnet whose nodes are logically related. The virtual subnet can be spread upon clusters of a MANET. An intelligent agent with a routing filtering table is proposed to assist the best known clustering algorithms, the original Least ID algorithm and the original Highest Connection Cluster (HCC) algorithm, to improve group communication efficiency. Our simulation covers the network factors of hop count, deprave rate, and delay time. The simulation results show that when the proposed intelligent agent is used with the HCC algorithm, the delay time was reduced by 81.84% as compared with flooding, and by 49.25% as compared with the Ad Hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing algorithm. The delay time for the Least ID algorithm assisted by the proposed agents reduced by 81.84% compared to that of flooding and by 50% compared to that of AODV.     

Integrating mobile IP with ad hoc networks

Extending traditional IEEE 802.11-based access points to incorporate the flexibility of mobile ad hoc networks would help make the dream of ubiquitous broadband wireless access a reality. The authors discuss several issues related to integrating the mobile Internet protocol with Manets.     

Performance evaluation of a mesh-evolving quality-of-service-aware multicast routing protocol for mobile ad hoc networks

The tremendous amount of multimedia applications running across the wireless communication medium makes quality of service (QoS) a fundamental requirement for mobile ad hoc networks. However, it is not easy to incorporate QoS into these networks. Moreover, the growing number of group-oriented applications also necessitates the efficient utilisation of network resources. The multicast model is a promising technique which can achieve this efficiency by facilitating the inherent broadcast capability of the wireless medium. The mesh-evolving ad hoc QoS multicast (MAQM) routing protocol is developed to address the resource efficiency and QoS problems with one, integrated solution. MAQM achieves multicast efficiency by tracking the availability of resources for each node within its neighbourhood. The QoS status is monitored continuously and announced periodically to the extent of QoS provision. Using these features, MAQM nodes can make their decisions on joining a new multicast session based on the sustainability of their perceived QoS. MAQM also evolves the initial multicast tree into a mesh during the course of an ongoing session to achieve a more robust network topology. Thus, MAQM integrates the concept of QoS-awareness into multicast routing in mobile ad hoc networks. Since ad hoc networks require the protocol control overhead to be as small as possible, we analyse the multicast session establishment process of MAQM to see its impact on the protocol performance in terms of system control overhead. We also evaluate the performance of MAQM through computer simulations using various qualitative and quantitative criteria. The simulation results validate our mathematical analysis of the control overhead and show that MAQM significantly improves multicast efficiency through its QoS-aware admission and routing decisions with an acceptably small overhead. Thus, MAQM shows that QoS is not only essential for, but also applicable to mobile ad hoc networks.     

Triangle-based routing for mobile ad hoc networks

Routing protocols for Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) have been studied extensively in the past decade. Routing protocols for MANETs can be broadly classified as reactive (on-demand), proactive, hybrid and position-based. Reactive routing protocols are attractive because a route between a source and a destination is established only when it is needed. Such protocols, unlike proactive protocols, do not have high overhead for route maintenance and are especially suitable for networks in which not all nodes communicate frequently. One problem with existing reactive routing protocols is the propagation of redundant route request messages during route discovery. In this paper, we present a low-overhead reactive routing protocol which reduces propagation of redundant route request messages. We also compare its performance with the well-known reactive routing protocol AODV.     

Neighborhood tracking for mobile ad hoc networks

In mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), node mobility causes network topologies to change dynamically over time, which complicates such important tasks as broadcasting and routing. In a typical efficient localized approach, each node makes forwarding decisions based on a neighborhood local view constructed simply by collecting received “Hello” messages. That kind of neighborhood local view can become outdated and inconsistent, which induces a low-coverage problem for efficient broadcasting tasks and a low-delivery ratio problem for efficient routing tasks. In this paper, we propose a neighborhood tracking scheme to guarantee the accuracy of forwarding decisions. Based on historical location information, nodes predict the positions of neighbors when making a forwarding decision, and then construct an updated and consistent neighborhood local view to help derive more precise forwarding decisions. The inaccuracy factors of our scheme are also discussed and an accessory method is provided for possible usage. Simulation results illustrate the accuracy of our proposed tracking scheme. To verify the effectiveness of our scheme, we apply it to existing efficient broadcast algorithms. Simulation results indicate that our neighborhood tracking scheme can improve the protocols coverage ratio greatly.     

P2P multicast for pervasive ad hoc networks

During the last few years, the proliferation of miniaturised devices with networking capabilities has provided the technological grounds for pervasive networking environments. It is not visionary to foresee a world of pervasive devices embedded in the environment interacting between them, and with those carried by users, via wireless communications. In addition, fostered by the diffusion of small-size, computational-rich mobile devices, the way content is generated, and accessed is changing with respect to the legacy-Internet paradigm. An ever-increasing share of the Internet content is generated directly by the users, and shared on the network (following the User-Generated Content model). While today the legacy Internet is still used to share user-generated content, it is reasonable to envision that pervasive networking technologies will represent the natural platform to support this new model. This will result in content being distributed on users’ devices rather than on centralised servers on the Internet, and in users creating ad hoc networks to share content. The p2p paradigm is particularly suitable for this scenario, because communications will occur directly among users, instead of being necessarily mediated by centralised servers. Motivated by these remarks, in this work we focus on p2p multicast services over ad hoc networks aimed at sharing content among groups of users interested in the same topics. Specifically, starting from a reference solution in legacy wired networks (Scribe), we design a cross-layer optimised protocol (XScribe) that addresses most of the Scribe problems on ad hoc networks. XScribe exploits cross-layer interactions with a proactive routing protocol to manage group membership. Furthermore, it uses a lightweight, structureless approach to deliver data to group members. By jointly using experimental results and analytical models, we show that, with respect to Scribe, XScribe significantly reduces the packet loss and the delay experienced by multicast receivers, and increases the maximum throughput that can be delivered to multicast groups.     

Cost-effective mobile ad hoc networks management

As there are more and more mobile devices in use, different mobile networking models such as ad hoc or mesh are attracting a large research interest. Self-organizing mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) allow devices to share their services and resources without any central administration or Internet support. In this respect they can become the backbone of the wireless grid or the gateway to existing grids. To achieve these goals, MANET management must be as effective as that of wired networks. This is, however, a challenging task due to network features like mobility, heterogeneity, limited resources of hosts and feeble communication. This paper presents a set of simple, cost-effective and resilient procedures for the basic tasks of MANET creation and management.     

Model checking mobile ad hoc networks

Modeling arbitrary connectivity changes within mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) makes application of automated formal verification challenging. We use constrained labeled transition systems as a semantic model to represent mobility. To model check MANET protocols with respect to the underlying topology and connectivity changes, we introduce a branching-time temporal logic. The path quantifiers are parameterized by multi-hop constraints over topologies, to discriminate the paths over which the temporal behavior should be investigated; the paths that violate the multi-hop constraints are not considered. A model checking algorithm is presented to verify MANETs that allow arbitrary mobility, under the assumption of reliable communication. It is applied to analyze a leader election protocol.     

Robust self-keying mobile ad hoc networks

Pairwise key establishment in mobile ad hoc networks allows any pair of nodes to agree upon a shared key. This is an important security service needed to secure routing protocols, and in general to facilitate secure communication among the nodes of the network.We present two self-keying mechanisms for pairwise key establishment in mobile ad hoc networks which do not require any centralized support. The mechanisms are built using the well-known technique of threshold secret sharing, and are robust and secure against a collusion of up to a certain number of nodes. We evaluate and compare the performance of both the mechanisms in terms of the node admission and pairwise key establishment.