Ad Hoc, Sensor, and Meshed Networks
Self-organization, Topology, Routing, Performance Analysis


Area

Multi-hop wireless ad hoc, sensor, and meshed networks are self-organizing
systems formed by cooperating nodes within communication range of each
other that form temporary networks. Ad hoc wireless networks allow
anywhere, anytime network connectivity even with complete lack of control,
ownership, and regulatory influence. The last few years have witnessed a
wealth of research ideas on ad hoc, sensor and meshed wireless networks
that are moving rapidly into commercialization and standardization. Such
networks can be randomly and rapidly deployed and reconfigured and easily
tailored to specific applications including entertainment, civilian, military,
etc. Moreover, an ad hoc architecture is highly robust to node failure and
can provide a high-level of fault tolerance due to nodal redundancy and its
distributed nature. Furthermore, energy efficiency can be achieved through
multi-hop routing communication. Bandwidth reuse can also benefit from
dividing the single long-range hop to multiple short hops with each hop
having a shorter range. Several challenges are standing in the way to
achieving ubiquitous deploy-ment of ad hoc and sensor networks. These
include variable topology, device hete-rogeneity, limited power supply and
the lack of effective energy-efficient design, lack of QoS and application
support, etc.

(source: IEEE Globecom 2008: Ad Hoc, Sensor and Mesh Networking Symposium,
www.ieee-globecom.org/2008)