Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET)

 Shagufta
5th Sem, BCA

A wireless ad hoc network (WALET) or Mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a decentralized type of wireless network. It is continuously self-configuring, self-organizing, infrastructure-less network of mobile devices connected without wires. It is sometimes known as “on-the-fly” networks or “spontaneous network”.

An Ad hoc network is a collection of mobile nodes, which forms a temporary network without the aid of centralized administration or standard support devices regularly available as conventional networks.

Working:

The nodes generally have a limited transmission range and so, each node seeks the assistance of its neighbouring nodes in forwarding packets and hence the nodes in an ad hoc network can act as a both router and hosts. Thus a node may forward packets between other nodes as well as run user application.

Ad hoc mobile network have found many applications in various fields like

• Military
• Emergency Conferencing
• Sensors Network
• VANET (Vehicle ad hoc network)
• PAN (Personal Area Network)

Since the network nodes are mobile, an ad hoc network will typically have a dynamic topology which will have profound effects on network characteristics.

Pros:

• It has the ability to trace routers in spite of a dynamic topology.
• Fast network establishment
• Independent computation

Cons:

The wireless (radio) media will also affect the behaviour of the network due to fluctuating link bandwidth resulting from relatively high error rates.

• Limited security
• Routing is difficult