Guide to Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

Overview and Goals Wireless communication technologies are undergoing rapid advancements. The past few years have experienced a steep growth in research in the area of wireless ad hoc networks. The attractiveness of ad hoc networks, in general, is attributed to their characteristics/features such as ability for infrastructure-less setup, minimal or no reliance on network planning and the ability of the nodes to self-organize and self-configure without the involvement of a centralized n- work manager, router, access point or a switch. These features help to set up a network fast in situations where there is no existing network setup or in times when setting up a fixed infrastructure network is considered infeasible, for example, in times of emergency or during relief operations. Even though ad hoc networks have emerged to be attractive and they hold great promises for our future, there are several challenges that need to be addressed. Some of the well-known challenges are attributed toissues relating to scalability, quality-of-service, energy efficiency and security.