Advanced routing techniques for wireless ad hoc networks

• Main Author: Tan, Chee Wah
• Other Authors: Sanjay Kumar Bose
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Wireless communication systems
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/20195
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The pervasiveness of wireless communications and the need to connect “anyplace, anytime, anywhere” has led to the development of wireless ad hoc networks. While the current IEEE 802.11 standard allows wireless communications to be established in a LAN (local area network) like manner, its support for ad hoc communications is limited. This is because the IEEE 802.11 standard requires an established infrastructure to be in place for routing and other networking tasks. Wireless devices which move out of radio communication range of this network infrastructure cannot retain their network connectivity. In contrast, in a wireless ad hoc network, these devices may still be able to communicate with each other as long as each device is within the communication range of other devices, even if there is no established network infrastructure in place. This is achieved by having all the wireless devices perform additional functions of data forwarding and routing to support wireless communications, apart from being the eventual source and destination of the data. Several substantially open issues which may be identified with regard to wireless ad hoc networking are addressed here. Since wireless devices or nodes are typically mobile, they may be run on a limited battery power supply and may not always be connected to a power outlet for replenishment. In view of this, the additional routing workload should not consume too much of a node’s limited battery power resource.