Kilian Weniger

PACMAN: passive autoconfiguration for mobile ad hoc networks

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) enable the communication between mobile nodes via multihop wireless routes without depending on a communication infrastructure. In contrast to infrastructure-based networks, MANETs support autonomous and spontaneous networking and, thus, should be capable of self-organization and -configuration. This paper presents passive autoconfiguration for mobile ad hoc network (PACMAN), a novel approach for the efficient distributed address autoconfiguration of mobile ad hoc networks. Special features of PACMAN are the support for frequent network partitioning and merging, and very low protocol overhead. This is accomplished by using cross-layer information derived from ongoing routing protocol traffic, e.g., address conflicts are detected in a passive manner based on anomalies in routing protocol traffic. Furthermore, PACMAN assigns Internet protocol (IP) addresses in a way that enables their compression, which can significantly reduce the routing protocol overhead. The performance of PACMAN is analyzed in detail based on various simulation results.

Passive duplicate address detection in mobile ad hoc networks

Auto-configuration of nodes is an important issue in self-organizing mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). Especially the property of unique addresses is critical for the main task of a data network: the delivery of packets to the intended destination. Stateless auto-configuration allows a node to construct an address on its own. Duplicate address detection (DAD), usually done by sending a query to the chosen address and waiting for a response, can be used to ensure the uniqueness of this address. The other approach, the distributed assignment of a priori unique address, can also be a bandwidth consuming task in a dynamic environment. In both cases, a merger of two configured networks is very difficult to detect and can lead to duplicate addresses. Thus, a continuous and bandwidth-efficient duplicate address detection mechanism would be eligible. In this paper, the feasibility of a new DAD approach is investigated: the detection of duplicate addresses in a passive way, only by monitoring routing protocol traffic. Based on classic link state routing, three concepts of passive duplicate address detection (PDAD) are proposed. Two link-state protocols currently in discussion in the IETF MANET working group, the fisheye state routing (FSR) protocol and the optimized link state routing (FSR) protocol and the optimized link state routing protocol (OLSR), are analyzed regarding these concepts. Finally, first simulation results are presented.

Mobile ad hoc networks - current approaches and future directions

Most research efforts in the area of MANETs focus on developing efficient routing protocols. Although routing protocols assume unique node addresses, the question of how to provide them remains open. In order to allow truly spontaneous and infrastructureless networking, a protocol for dynamic allocation of unique addresses is needed. Recently, various address autoconfiguration protocols for MANETs have been proposed. This article gives an overview of the challenges of address autoconfiguration in MANETs, presents current approaches, and discusses their advantages and drawbacks.

Reactive clustering in MANETs

Many clustering protocols for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) have been proposed in the literature. With only one exception so far (1), all these protocols are proactive, thus wasting bandwidth when their function is not currently needed. To reduce the signalling traffic load, reactive clustering may be employed.We have developed a clustering protocol named “On‐Demand Group Mobility‐Based Clustering” (ODGMBC) (2), (3) which is reactive. Its goal is to build clusters as a basis for address autoconfiguration and hierarchical routing. In contrast to the protocol described in ref. (1), the design process especially addresses the notions of group mobility and of multi‐hop clusters in a MANET. As a result, ODGMBC maps varying physical node groups onto logical clusters. In this paper, ODGMBC is described. It was implemented for the ad hoc network simulator GloMoSim (4) and evaluated using several performance indicators. Simulation results are promising and show that ODGMBC leads to stable clusters. This stabilit...

Effiziente Selbstkonfiguration mobiler Ad-hoc-Netze (Efficient Self-Configuration of Mobile ad hoc Networks)

Zusammenfassung Mobile Ad-hoc-Netze (MANET) ermöglichen die Datenkommunikation vollkommen unabhängig von einer Kommunikationsinfrastruktur und eröffnen dadurch zahlreiche neue Möglichkeiten der mobilen Kommunikation. Auf Grund der speziellen Randbedingungen in diesen Netzen, wie die Notwendigkeit zur Selbstorganisation, die hochdynamische Netztopologie und die beschränkte Bandbreite und Energie, entstehen jedoch neue Anforderungen an Systemkonzepte und Protokolle. Eine essentielle, bisher aber nicht zufriedenstellend gelöste Problemstellung in diesem Zusammenhang ist die effiziente und zuverlässige Selbstkonfiguration solcher Netze, auch Autokonfiguration genannt. Wichtigster Konfigurationsparameter im Zusammenhang mit IP ist eine netzweite eindeutige IP-Adresse der Netzwerkschnittstelle. Dieser Artikel gibt einen Überblick über einige Ergebnisse der Dissertation mit dem Titel “IP-Autokonfiguration in mobilen Ad-hoc-Netzwerken”, in der mögliche Ansätze analysiert und eine sehr effiziente und zuverlässige Lösung zur dezentralen und automatischen IP-Adresszuweisung in MANETs vorgeschlagen wird.

Routing and Self-organization in IP based Wireless Access Networks (Routing und Selbstorganisation in drahtlosen IP-basierten Zugangsnetzen)

The BMBF project IPonAir addressed the integration of different wireless access systems with the Internet. This article gives a short overview of some of the project results in the area of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) and the integration of these networks with the Internet. Das BMBF Projekt IPonAir befasste sich mit der Integration von unterschiedlichen Mobilfunksystemen und dem Internet. Dieser Artikel gibt einen kurzen Überblick über einige der im Projekt erzielten Ergebnisse im Bereich der mobilen Ad-hoc-Netze und der Anbindung dieser Netze an das Internet.

IPonAir – Drahtloses Internet der nächsten Generation

Das BMB+F Projekt ‚IPonAir – Drahtloses Internet der nächsten Generation‘ [1] hat im Oktober 2001 begonnen. Koordiniert wird das Projekt von Prof. Dr. M. Zitterbart vom Institut für Telematik der Universität Karlsruhe (TH). Partner aus der Industrie sind Alcatel, Ericsson Eurolab Deutschland GmbH Aachen, T-Systems Nova, Lucent, NEC Europe Ltd., Nokia sowie Siemens. Als Hochschulen sind die Universitäten Karlsruhe (Koordination), Aachen, Berlin, München, Bonn, Bremen, Essen, Kassel, Frankfurt und die FH Friedberg vertreten. Dieser Artikel gibt einen Überblick über einige der im Rahmen des Projektes durchgeführten Arbeiten zu mobilen Ad-hoc-Netzen.