Replication of Routing Tables for Mobility Management in Ad Hoc Networks

Ad Hoc networking is a rather old technology that is gaining new momentum in the research community. It is still an area under development and there are several proposals for the technology regarding routing protocols, addressing, interoperability, etc. Because of the extreme conditions where Ad Hoc networks should operate, it is envisioned that in medium to large scale networks, a hybrid proactive and reactive routing mechanism should be used. Therefore, considering the proactive routing protocols as the most suitable protocol for certain topologies in Ad Hoc networks, this paper proposes a specific layered structure to enable both technologies in a seamless manner. This approach supports both reactive (e.g., AODV, DSR) and proactive link state (e.g., OLSP) protocols. The proposed layered structure divides the routing problem into different parts, where one module performs the routing algorithm, another module takes care of replicating and synchronizing the routing tables, and a third one evaluates the routing information for triggering hand-over signals to the upper layers. The overall responsibility for selecting the appropriate routing schema and for initiating the roaming process resides on a proposed Context Sensitive Roaming Layer. This paper describes the interface and the functions implemented by the Roaming Layer. The paper also analyses replication using the Server Cache Synchronization Protocol (SCSP). Finally, the last part of the paper describes the demand for Ad Hoc networks, which is driven by applications supported with an appropriate billing or bonus mechanism.