Providing internet connectivity and mobility management for MANETs
Quan Le‐Trung, Paal Einar Engelstad, Vinh Quang Pham, Tor Skeie, Amirhosein Taherkordi, Frank Eliassen · International Journal of Web Information Systems · 2009
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the required functionalities on providing internet connectivity and mobility management for mobilead hocnetworks (MANETs), present discovered problems such as inconsistent contexts, and provide the corresponding solutions. It also provides a hybrid metric for the load‐balance of intra/inter‐MANET traffic over multiple internet gateways (IGWs). Design/methodology/approach The paper uses both mathematical analyses and simulations to discover the required functionalities and problems on providing internet connectivity and mobility management for MANETs. The proposed hybrid metric for IGW selection is a replacement of the shortest hop‐count (HC) metric, and consider three factors: HC distance, intra‐MANET traffic, and inter‐MANET traffic. Findings Simulation results show thatad hocrouting protocols, using the proposed metric, get better performance in terms of packet delivery ratio and transmission delay, at the cost of slightly increased signalling overhead. Research limitations/implications In the assessment, simulation results are taken from two mobility scenarios, and the hybrid metric is integrated into only reactivead hocrouting. Thus, more case studies need to be carried out to demonstrate the outcomes of the proposed metric compared with others. Practical implications This paper provides the needed functionalities for broadening the richness of MANET applications to internet users, and vice verse. Originality/value This paper contributes to the research on internetworking and mobility management between MANETs and the internet.