International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol.9 No.

27 (2014)
© Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

Mobile adhoc network

1
Sathish Kumar G., and 2Purushothaman S. and 3Rajeswari P.
1
Research Scholar, Department of MCA, VELS University, Chennai, India.Email:sathish.gunashekaran@gmail.com
2
Associate Professor, Email:dr.s.purushothaman@gmail.com
3
Lecturer, Department of Electrical and Computer Science Engineering, Email:rajeswaripuru@gmail.com
23
Institute of Technology, Haramaya University, DireDawa, Ethiopia

Abstract: This paper presents fundamental introduction about mobile adhoc network.
Keywords: routing, mobile adhoc network, mobile node

1. Introduction
An ad hoc network is a collection of mobile nodes that dynamically form a temporary network. In
traditional wireless and mobile networks, mobile nodes communicate with a centralized structure. An ad hoc
network operates without the use of existing network infrastructure. The main application for ad hoc networks has
long been considered as the military tactical communication known as packet radio networks. Soldiers, tanks and
planes were able to relay information for situational awareness on battlefield in an ad hoc network. An ad hoc
network also could have commercial applications, such as, using laptop computers to participate in an interactive
lecture, business associates sharing information during a meeting or conference, etc.

1.1 Infra Structured Networks

This network introduces a third fixed party (a base station), that will hand over the offered traffic from one
station to another. The same entity will regulate the attribution of radio resources. When a node S wishes to
communicate to a node D, the former notifies the base station, which eventually establishes a communication with
the destination node. The communicating nodes need not know the routes. All that matters is, that both the nodes,
source and destination are within the transmission range of the base station. If one of them fails to fulfil this
condition, the communication will abort. (Johnson D.B et al. 1996).
In Figure. 1.1, the base station’s range is
illustrated by the oval. The two nodes S and D, which
want to communicate, are in the range of the base
station. The S node sends, the message to the base
station, which in turn forwards, it to destination node
D. Thus communication is carried out with the help of
a base station. All messages have to pass through the
base station. Node E is out of the range of the base
station. This prevents it from communicating to other
nodes in the network. When node E wants to
communicate to any node in the network it has to
Fig.1.1 Infrastructured network contact the base station. Since, it is out of range of
communication it will not be possible.
1.2 Infra Structure-less Networks
This Infra Structure-less Networks, called the Ad hoc network, does not rely on any stationary
infrastructure. The concept behind these infra structure less networks is the collaboration between its participating
members (Lawrence Klos et al. 2005). That in general, instead of making data transmit through a fixed base station,
nodes consequentially forward data packets from one to another until a destination node is finally reached.
Typically, a packet may travel through a number of network points, called intermediary nodes, before arriving at the
destination.
Ad hoc networking (Lei Chen et al. 2004) introduces a completely new set of wireless network formation.
The term ad hoc means, in this instance, a typical instantaneous network connecting various mobile devices without
the need of fixed infrastructure. The routers and hosts are free to move randomly and organize themselves in an
arbitrary fashion, thus the network topology changes rapidly and unpredictably. Absence of a supporting structure in
mobile ad hoc networks, to a certain extent, invalidates almost all of the existing techniques developed for routine
network controls in the existing wireless networks.
A MANET consists of mobile platforms (e.g., a router with multiple hosts and wireless communication
devices) which is referred to as "nodes" that are free to move about arbitrarily. The nodes may be located in
airplanes, ships, trucks, cars, people, and very small devices, and there may be multiple hosts (Jugmin So et al.

9711
 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol.9 No.27 (2014)
© Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

2004) per router. A MANET is an autonomous system of mobile nodes. The system may operate in isolation, or
may have gateways to and interface with a fixed network.

Here, the node S wants to communicate to

node D. The oval indicates the communication range of
the node. The communication range of S does not
exceed to include D. In this case routing is necessary,
node E is in the range of S, which has D in its range. In
Fig. 1.2 Infra-structure-less network order to communicate with D, S first sends the message
to E, which in turn forwards it to D. Thus the node E
acts as a router and a node.
Thus in this way the ad hoc network co-operates to forward packets for each other to communicate without
the help of a base station (Samir R.Das et al. 1998). But there are several issues like, selfish nodes, malicious
behaviour, routing challenges, security, etc.

1.3 Characteristics of Wireless Networks

The conventional wireless networks are only an out-skirt of the Internet based on the wire-lined
infrastructure. New wireless networks can either be a subnet of the wire-lined network, or can be a stand-alone
communication platform. The new characteristics of such wireless networks are the following:
a) Multi-hopping: The nodes in an ad hoc network transmits using a limited radio power. Each node only keeps in
contact with a limited number of neighbours, regardless of the network size. Nodes that are out of range of each
other will rely on other nodes to maintain connection. At the same time, each node will help other nodes. Multi-hop
(Holland G et al. 2001, Wu S.-L et al. 2000,Broch J et al. 1998) radio relay (Makansi T et al. 1987) is the most
fundamental property of these new wireless networks, compared with conventional cellular wireless networks.
Multi-hopping saves the nodes in using the radio transmission power and it also has the following advantages.
1) Spatial reuse: simultaneous transmission / receiving sessions are possible for node pairs that are out of range of
each other.
2) Obstacle negotiation: a multi-hop path can bypass an obstacle that blocks direct radio connection between two
nodes.
b) Self-organization: Ad hoc networks are autonomous. After nodes are deployed, they must form a functional
network with minimum or no manual interaction. The research and development community of such networks
considers the ability of self-organization, (Zhao S et al. 2002) in the first place. This ability requires that the node
must be able to collaborate with each other to configure the parameters or make decisions that achieve best network
performance.
Dynamic routing is an example of self-organization network. Not only node mobility, but also radio
fluctuation, can cause the network topology to vary dramatically over time. Routing protocols adopted (Jie Wu
2002) by ad hoc networks are able to adapt itself according to the changing topology. Other examples of self-
organization are node address assignment, traffic load balancing and energy balancing, clustering, and so on.
c) Resource Conservation: The nodes of ad hoc networks are laptops and personal digital assistant. It can also be
any mobile or standalone system with isotropic transceivers with antenna. They are limited in both processing power
and energy supply. Power conservation has become one of the first factors that should be considered when designing
such networks. Routing protocols for ad hoc networks need to find paths not only based on traffic throughput, but
also based on energy efficiency and load balancing.

1.4 Challenges of Wireless Networks

The properties (Royer E et al. 1999) of the ad hoc make them peculiar and different from the conventional
networks. The major challenges faced are the following:
a) Radio media: Compared to the wire-line media, the signal loss, noise level and bit error rate on the radio media
has fluctuations. The end-to-end packet latency (Garcia-Luna-Aceves J.J 1999) is considerably great in multi-hop
wireless networks. The reason is that the latency of each link is long and unpredictable due to frequent packet
collisions and re-transmissions. Current medium access control (MAC) protocols for these networks are based on
carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA), which further elongates the per hop latency.
This has been a major obstacle faced by real-time and multi-media applications carried out in the ad hoc networks.
The multicast protocols developed for the wire-lined Internet cannot be directly applied. Because of the changing

9712
 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol.9 No.27 (2014)
© Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

radio condition and the resulting network topology, multicast routing has to develop novel solutions for it to be
efficient and function correctly.
b) Scalability: A typical ad hoc network is expected to include thousands of nodes, and future generation of wireless
networks will connect millions of people with mobile data communication devices. Managing a multi-hop wireless
network (Shiwen Mao et al. 2003) of this size is a great challenge. Address allocation or naming of the nodes in such
a large network is non-trivial issue. Throughput and packet latency along a path with multiple wireless hops may be
unsatisfactory. Theoretical study on capacity of such networks has concluded that as the number of nodes goes
toward infinity, the capacity of the connection between any two nodes will decrease. In a large network, the routing
path between any two nodes is long, and is subject to breakage due to node mobility (Jean-Mare S.A et al. 1993).
Timely updation of the routing path with minimum control overhead is necessary to maintain connectivity in the
network.
c) Security: Signal travels in open air, and radio wave propagates both to the intended destination and to an
unwanted area. Wireless networks (VikasKawadia et al. 2003.) are more subject to fading, and attacks can be
launched easily. To assure the wide adoption, ad hoc networks need to protect the information to be transported by
the network and identify possible cause of attacks. If a network is deployed to carry out a critical task, the network
(Young-BaeKo et al. 2000) needs to verify the integrity of each node, as well as the information reported from each
node.

1.5 Mobile Networking

The wireless model essentially consists of the Mobile Node at the core, with additional supporting features.
It is derived from the basic Node class of NS2. It is the basic Node object with added mobility features like node
movement, periodic position updates, maintaining topology boundary etc.
1.5.1 Mobile Node
Mobile Node is a split object. In addition to the
basic node model, it consists of a network stack. The
network stack for a mobile node consists of a link layer
(LL), an ARP module connected to LL, an interface
port priority queue (IFq), a mac layer(MAC), a network
Node classifier
protocol
Classifier: Forwarding
agent interface (netIF), all connected to a common wireless
255
Agent: Protocol Entity
channel. These network components are created and
addr
classifier defaulttarget_
routing
agent
plumbed together in OTcl. A packet sent down the
Node Entry
stack flows through the link layer (and ARP), the
ARP
LL
LL: Link layer object
LL Interface queue, the MAC layer, and the physical layer.
IFQ
IFQ: Interface queueIFQ
At the receiving node, the packet then makes its way
MAC up the stack through the Mac, and the LL.
Propagation
MAC MAC: Mac object
PHY and antenna
models
MobileNode
PHY PHY: Net interface
CHANNEL
Prop/ant Radio propagation/
antenna models

Fig. 1.3 Mobile Node

Each component is briefly described here.

o Link Layer
The link layer can potentially have many functionalities such as queuing and link-level retransmission. The LL
object implements a particular data link protocol, such as ARQ. By combining both the sending and receiving
functionalities into one module, the LL object can also support other mechanisms such as piggybacking. The
link layer for mobile node has an ARP module connected to it which resolves all IP to hardware (Mac) address
conversions. Normally for all outgoing (into the channel) packets, the packets are handed down to the LL by the
routing agent. The LL hands down packets to the interface queue. For all incoming packets (out of the channel),
the mac layer hands up packets to the LL which is then handed off at the node entry_ point.
o ARP
The Address Resolution Protocol (implemented in BSD style) module receives queries from Link layer. If ARP
has the hardware address for destination, it writes it into the mac header of the packet. Otherwise it broadcasts
an ARP query, and caches the packet temporarily. For each unknown destination hardware address, there is a

9713
 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol.9 No.27 (2014)
© Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

buffer for a single packet. In case additional packets to the same destination are sent to ARP, the earlier
buffered packet is dropped. Once the hardware address of a packet's next hop is known, the packet is inserted
into the interface queue.
o Interface Queue
The Interface queue is implemented as a priority queue, which gives priority to routing protocol packets,
inserting them at the head of the queue. It supports running a filter over all packets in the queue and removes
those with a specified destination address.

o Mac Layer
Depending on the type of physical layer, the MAC layer must contain a certain set of functionalities such as:
carrier sense, collision detection and collision avoidance. Since these functionalities affect both the sending and
receiving sides, they are implemented in a single Mac object. For sending, the Mac object must follow a certain
medium access protocol before transmitting the packet on the channel. For receiving, the MAC layer is
responsible for delivering the packet to the link layer.
The IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function (DCF) Mac protocol has been implemented. It uses a
RTS/CTS/DATA/ACK pattern for all unicast packets and simply sends out DATA for all broadcast packets.
The implementation uses both physical and virtual carrier sense.
o Network Interfaces (Physical layer)
The Network Interface layer serves as a hardware interface which is used by mobile node to access the channel.
This interface subject to collisions and the radio propagation model receives packets transmitted by other node
interfaces to the channel. The interface stamps each transmitted packet with the meta-data related to the
transmitting interface like the transmission power, wavelength etc. This meta-data in packet header is used by
the propagation model in receiving network interface to determine if the packet has minimum power to be
received and/or captured and/or detected (carrier sense) by the receiving node. The Network interface in NS
approximates the DSSS radio interface (Lucent WaveLan direct-sequence spread-spectrum).
o Radio Propagation Model
These models are used to predict the received signal power of each packet. At the physical layer of each
wireless node, there is a receiving threshold. When a packet is received, if its signal power is below the
receiving threshold, it is marked as error and dropped by the MAC layer. NS supports the free space model (at
near distances), two-ray ground reflection model (at far distances) and the shadowing model (includes fading)
o Antenna
An omni-directional antenna having unity gain is used by mobile nodes.

2. Conclusion
This paper has given a basic introduction about mobile adhoc network. Its applications are vast. Many
improvements can be done on the performance of mobile adhoc network.

References
1. Broch J., Maltz D., Johnson D., Y.-C.Hu and Jetcheva J. (1998), ‘A Performance Comparison of Multi-Hop
Wireless Ad Hoc Network Routing Protocols’, In Proceedings of the IEEE/ACM MOBICOM, pp. 85-97.
2. Garcia-Luna-Aceves J.J. (1999), ‘The Core-Assisted Mesh Protocol’, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in
Communications, Vol.17, No.8, pp.1-15.
3. Holland G. and Vaidya N.H. (1999), ‘Analysis of TCP Performance over Mobile Ad Hoc Networks’, In
Proceedings of the IEEE/ACM MOBICOM, pp.219-230.
4. Holland G., Vaidya N. and Bahl P. (2001), ‘A rate-adaptive MAC protocol for multi-hop wireless
networks’, in Proceedings of ACM/IEEE MOBICOM’01, Rome, Italy, pp.236-251.
5. Jean-Marie A. and Gun L. (1993), ‘Parallel queues with re-sequencing’, Journal of ACM, Vol.40, No.5,
pp.1188-1208.
6. Johnson D.B. and D.A. Maltz D.A. (1996), ‘Protocols for Adaptive wireless and Mobile Networking’,
IEEE Personal Communications, Vol.3, No.1, pp.32-42.
7. Jugmin So and NitinVaidhya (2004), ‘Multi Channel MAC for ADHOC Networks: Handling Multi
Channel Hidden Terminals using A Single Transceiver’, MobiHoc’04, pp.222-233.
8. Lawrence Klos, Golden G. Richard III (2005), ‘Reliable Adhoc Group Communication using Local
Neighbourhoods’, IEEE, pp.361-368.

9714
 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol.9 No.27 (2014)
© Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

9. Lei Chen and Adel Ben Mnaover (2004), ‘Performance Evaluation of New Hybrid Multicast Routing
Protocols for Adhoc Networks’, IEEE, pp.70-74.
10. Makansi T. (1987), ‘Transmitter-Oriented Code Assignment for Multihop Radio Net-works. IEEE
Transactions on Communications’, Vol.35, No.12, pp.1379-82.
11. Royer E. and Toh C-K. (1999), ‘A Review of Current Routing Protocols for Ad Hoc Mobile Wireless
Networks’, IEEE Personal Communications, pp.46-55.
12. Samir R. Das, Robert Casta˜neda, Jiangtao Yan and RimliSengupta (1998), ‘Comparative Performance
Evaluation of Routing Protocols for Mobile Ad hoc Networks’,7th International Conference on Computer
Communications and Networks (IC3N), pp.153-161.
13. Shiwen Mao, Shunan Lin, Shivendra S. Panwar, Yao Wangand EmreCelebi (2003), ‘Video Transport Over
Ad Hoc Networks: Multistream Coding with Multipath Transport’, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in
Communications, Vol.21, No.10, pp.1721-1737.
14. VikasKawadia, Yongguang Zhang and Binita Gupta (2003), ‘System Services for Ad-Hoc Routing:
Architecture, Implementation and Experiences’,Proceedings of MobiSys 2003: The First International Conference
on Mobile Systems, Applications and Services, pp.99-112.
15. Wu S.-L, Lin C.-Y, Tseng Y.-C. andSheu J.-P. (2000), ‘A new multichannel MAC protocol with on-
demand channel assignment for multi-hop mobile ad hoc networks’, In Proceedings of IEEE WCNC’00, pp.1-26.
16. Young-BaeKo and Nitin H. Vaidya (2000), ‘Location-Aided Routing (LAR) in mobile ad hoc
networks’,Wireless Networks 6 (2000) Ó J.C. Baltzer AG, Science Publishers, pp. 307-321.
17. Zhao S., Tepe K., Seskar I. and Ray Chaudhuri D. (2002), ‘Routing Protocols for Self-Organizing
Hierarchical Ad-Hoc Wireless Networks’, NJ Commission of Science and Technology Grant #03-2042-007-12,
pp.1-4.

Sathishkumar G has completed his Dr.S.Purushothaman completed his Dr.P.Rajeswari completed her PhD
MTech from Vellore Institute of PhD from Indian Institute of in Mother Teresa Women’s
Technology Vellore, India in 2005. Technology Madras, India in 1995. University, Kodaikanal, India in
He has 9 years of experience in He has 156 publications to his 2014. She has 24 papers to her
developing software applications credit. He has 21 years of teaching credit. Her areas of research interest
for various Telecom devices. experience. Presently he is working is Intelligent Computing. Presently
Presently he is working as technical as Associate Professor in Institute she is working as Lecturer in
Lead for Ericsson Global India, of Technology, Haramaya Department of ECE, Institute of
Bangalore, India. University, Ethiopia. Technology, Haramaya University,
Ethiopia.

9715