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MANET(Mobile Ad hoc Networks)

Definition

In the recent years communication technology and services have advanced.

Mobility has become very important, as people want to communicate anytime

from and to anywhere. In the areas where there is little or no infrastructure is

available or the existing wireless infrastructure is expensive and inconvenient to

use, Mobile Ad hoc Networks, called MANETs, are becoming useful. They are

going to become integral part of next generation mobile services.

A MANET is a collection of wireless nodes that can dynamically form a network to

exchange information without using any pre-existing fixed network infrastructure.

The special features of MANET bring this technology great opportunity together

with severe challenges.

The military tactical and other security-sensitive operations are still the main

applications of ad hoc networks, although there is a trend to adopt ad hoc

networks for commercial uses due to their unique properties. However, they face

a number of problems.. Some of the technical challenges MANET poses are also

presented based on which the paper points out the related kernel barrier. Some

of the key research issues for ad hoc networking technology are discussed in

detail that are expected to promote the development and accelerate the

commercial applications of the MANET technology.During the last decade,

advances in both hardware and software techniques have resulted in mobile

hosts and wireless networking common and miscellaneous. Generally there are

two distinct approaches for enabling wireless mobile units to communicate witheach other:

Infrastructured

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Wireless mobile networks have traditionally been based on the cellular concept

and relied on good infrastructure support, in which mobile devices communicate

with access points like base stations connected to the fixed network

infrastructure. Typical examples of this kind of wireless networks are GSM, UMTS,

WLL, WLAN, etc.

Infrastructureless

As to infrastructureless approach, the mobile wireless network is commonly

known as a mobile ad hoc network (MANET) [1, 2]. A MANET is a collection of

wireless nodes that can dynamically form a network to exchange information

without using any pre-existing fixed network infrastructure. It has many

important applications, because in many contexts information exchange between

mobile units cannot rely on any fixed network infrastructure, but on rapid

configuration of a wireless connections on-the-fly. Wireless ad hoc networks

themselves are an independent, wide area of research and applications, instead

of being only just a complement of the cellular system. In this paper, we describes

the fundamental problems of ad hoc networking by giving its related research

background including the concept, features, status, and applications of MANET.

Some of the technical challenges MANET poses are also presented based on

which the paper points out the related kernel barrier. Some of the key research

issues for adhoc networking technology are discussed in details that are expected

to promote the development and accelerate the commercial applications of the

MANET technology.

Difference between MANET and WLAN

MANETs are dynamically created and maintained by the individual nodes

comprising the network. They do not require a pre-existing architecture for

communication purposes and do not rely on any type of wired infrastructure; in

an ad hoc network all communication occurs through a wireless median. MANET

comprises a special subset of wireless networks since they do not require the

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existence of a centralized message-passing device. Simple wireless networks

require the existence of access points or static base stations (BS), which are

responsible for routing messages to and from mobile nodes (MNs) within the

specified transmission area. Ad hoc networks, on the other hand, do not require

the existence of any device other than two or more MNs willing to cooperatively

form a network.

Instead of relying on a wired BS to coordinate the flow of messages to each MN,

the individual MNs form their own network and forward packets to and from each

other. This adaptive behavior allows a network to be quickly formed even under

the most adverse conditions. Other characteristics of ad hoc networks include

"team collaboration of a large number of MN units, limited bandwidth, the need

for supporting multimedia real time traffic and low latency access to distributed

resources (e.g. distributed database access for situation awareness in the

battlefield).