Mobile Groups in Ad-hoc Networks

Abstract: Most current research on Mobile Ad-hoc NETworks (MANETs) concerns one ad-hocnetwork at a time. A common topic is how to handle the merging of new nodesappearing in range of an existing MANET into a new, larger network. CurrentMANET implementations do not define the handling of policies for controllingmembership or routing messages, neither do they support policy-based inter-MANETrouting. In this thesis, we present an implementation of Mobile Group Protocol (MGP) whichenhances the reactive routing protocol AODV with an administrative framework inwhich Mobile Ad-hoc NETwork (MANET) policies are defined. Such policies are usedto control membership and signaling in a MANET. We define new roles for theMANET members such as nodes, leaders and gateways. We discuss the messageexchange taking place during forming of Mobile Groups (MGs) and study the theparticular implementation by simulating a group of simple MGP scenarios usingNetwork Simulator 2 (NS-2). We conclude our work by discussing the using of MGP as a base for an inter-MANETrouting protocol providing policy-based routing in MANETs.