Michael S. Thompson

Characterizing mobile ad hoc networks -: the maniac challenge experiment

This paper reports data collected during the first Mobile Ad-hoc Network Interoperability And Cooperation (MANIAC) Challenge, a multi-institution competition that allows us to study issues of interoperability and cooperation in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). We characterize network topology and routing. The former includes network connectivity and diameter, node degree distribution, clustering, and frequency of topology changes. The latter includes route length distribution, route asymmetry, frequency of route changes, and packet delivery ratio. Results show a high degree of topology and route changes, even when mobility is low, and a prevalence of asymmetric routes, both of which contradict assumptions commonly made in MANET simulation studies. Our data sets will be made publicly available for use by other researchers.

Service description for pervasive service discovery

Service discovery in pervasive computing environments is different from traditional computing environments. Pervasive services are more diverse than traditional services, ranging from environmental controls to computation resources. Pervasive computing encompasses a wide range of devices, from small, resource-poor devices, such as an LCD projector, to powerful desktop and server systems. The change in application space from the virtual environment to a pervasive, physical world means that service discovery methods must accommodate the additional dimensions including location and time. Current service discovery mechanisms cannot account for this information and, therefore, do not provide optimal service discovery. In this paper, we examine the requirements of description of services and the mechanisms that process the descriptions in pervasive computing service discovery. Our concerns are the accuracy of location and conservation of resources.

The MANIAC Challenge: Educational Experiences in Ad Hoc Networking

The Mobile Ad Hoc Networking Interoperability and Cooperation, or MANIAC, Challenge is a student competition aimed at a better understanding of cooperation and interoperability in ad hoc networks. It also hopes to encourage student interest in solving the complex issues involved in mobile-network technology. Student teams develop and program their strategy for routing and forwarding packets for other network nodes, using an API developed by us. During the competition, teams come together to generate a mobile ad hoc network. The cooperation strategies and the network topology, routing, and performance data collected provide valuable insights into how ad hoc networks will behave when widely deployed outside tightly controlled laboratory environments.

On software tools and stack architectures for wireless network experiments

Simulation is still the most widely adopted performance evaluation technique in mobile ad hoc network research, in spite of a growing number of questions about the fidelity of this technique. Implementation-based testing and evaluation of wireless networks tends to produce believable results, but the technique sometimes suffers from poor repeatability, high implementation cost, and complex experimental logistics. The topic of this paper is software tools to enable implementation-based experimental research on wireless networks. We review some of the existing tools and propose the Flexible Internetwork Stack (FINS) framework, our open-source solution for network protocol implementation, integration, and testing. FINS aims to provide researchers with monitoring, logging, and reconfiguring utilities similar to the ones provided by simulation environments or emulation testbeds.1

A method of proactive MANET routing protocol evaluation applied to the OLSR protocol

Traditional evaluation studies of MANET routing protocols have concentrated on quantitative, traffic-based metrics like throughput and packet loss. These metrics provide a limited evaluation of protocol performance because they do not measure how well the protocol finds and maintains routes, only how well functional routes perform, once established. This work proposes a method for assessing how well a proactive MANET routing protocol tracks the network topology by comparing the reported routes to the actual topology. This study exposes the impact of routing message propagation and message loss on MANET routing by showing the existence of errant routes and protocol-reported information, specifically broken routes, incorrect routing table hop counts, and existing routes that were not found by the protocol. We use this approach to analyze the performance of the OLSR protocol in a medium-sized MANET, using data from the MANIAC Challenge. The results favor OLSR, but expose errant routes, how often they occur and for how long.

Service description and dissemination for service discovery in pervasive computing environments

The ability to describe, locate, choose, and interact with services is an integral part of pervasive computing. Compared to previous computing environments, pervasive computing environments are more dynamic and transient while services and clients in these environments are diverse in type and function. In order to effectively facilitate communication and computation in these environments, protocols must be able to these characteristics. This work concentrates on our approach to two of the four components of service discovery, service description and dissemination. We introduce and compare the performance of our schemes to that of existing industrial and research approaches.

A mobile ad hoc networking competition: A retrospective look at the maniac challenge

This article describes the Mobile Ad Hoc Networking Interoperability and Cooperation (MANIAC) Challenge, a competition in MANETs. The primary objective of the competition was to assess the trade-offs between network- wide connectivity and resource utilization in a MANET comprising autonomous self-interested nodes. The competition attracted participants from academic institutions in the United States, Europe, and Africa. The data collected provide a better understanding of link stability, route effectiveness, cooperation, and competition in an autonomously deployed MANET.

The FINS framework: an open source userspace networking subsystem for linux

This article provides an overview of the Flexible InterNetworking Stack (FINS) Framework, an open source userspace networking subsystem for Linux. The goal of the FINS Framework is to facilitate experimentation in wireless networking research by simplifying the tasks of implementing, deploying, and testing networking protocols and ideas. This is accomplished by moving networking functionality into userspace to avoid numerous challenges associated with implementing ideas in the Linux kernel. In addition to simplifying coding, the framework is designed to run on Android mobile devices to enable truly mobile wireless networking experiments. Details of the frameworks architecture and implementation are included, as well as baseline performance results.

Experiences using IEEE 802.11b for service discovery

This paper shares our experiences developing a service discovery dissemination mechanism for pervasive computing environments. We explore the problems encountered when designing a solution for IEEE 802.11b ad hoc networks, including the performance of multicast and unicast delivery. We show and discuss results from both high and low traffic scenarios, with nodes in close proximity. We also discuss a small test using a multihop configuration. Observations in this paper are useful to researchers working in almost any layer of the networking stack who wish to better support multicast and unicast communications in mobile ad hoc environments

The FINS Framework: Design and Implementation of the Flexible Internetwork Stack (FINS) Framework

This paper describes the Flexible Internetwork Stack (FINS) Framework, an open-source tool to enable implementation-based experimental research in computer networking. The FINS Framework uses a module-based architecture that allows cross-layer behavior and runtime reconfiguration of the protocol stack. The FINS Framework is general enough to enable experimental setups under various network architectures (e.g., MANET, infrastructure, mesh) and to accelerate prototyping solutions for evolving areas (e.g., cognitive networks, cross-layer design, context-aware applications). Version 1.0 of the framework makes use of existing physical and data link layer functionality, while enabling modifications to the stack at the network layer and above, or even the implementation of a clean-slate, non-layered protocol architecture. Protocols, stubs for communicating with intact layers, and management and supervisory functions are implemented as FINS Framework modules, interconnected by a central switch. This paper describes the FINS Framework architecture, presents an initial assessment along with experiments enabled by the tool, and documents an intuitive mechanism for transparently intercepting socket calls that maintains efficiency and flexibility. Performance testing shows that the FINS Framework is capable of supporting experiments requiring IEEE 802.11g hardware speeds and operating in varying networking architecture and experimental scenarios on both Ubuntu laptops and Android devices.