Integrating Heterogeneous Wireless Technologies: A Cellular Aided Mobile Ad Hoc Network (CAMA)

A mobile ad hoc network is a collection of wireless terminals that can be deployed rapidly. Its deficiencies include limited wireless bandwidth efficiency, low throughput, large delays, and weak security. Integrating it with a well-established cellular network can improve communication and security in ad hoc networks, as well as enrich the cellular services. This research proposes a cellular-aided mobile ad hoc network (CAMA) architecture, in which a CAMA agent in the cellular network manages the control information, while the data is delivered through the mobile terminals (MTs). The routing and security information is exchanged between MTs and the agent through cellular radio channels. A position-based routing protocol, the multi-selection greedy positioning routing (MSGPR) protocol, is proposed. At times due to the complicated radio environment, the position information is not precise. Even in these cases, the MT can still find its reachable neighbors (the association) by exchanging hello messages. This association is used in complement with the position information to make more accurate routing decisions. Simulation results show that the delivery ratio in the ad hoc network is greatly improved with very low cellular overhead. The security issues in the proposed architecture and the corresponding solutions are addressed. The experimental study shows that CAMA is much less vulnerable than a pure ad hoc network.