Design of a Low Cost Radio Based Ad hoc Communication System for Rural Areas

Abstract: Mobile ad hoc network is a collection of wireless mobile hosts which are interconnected by a communication media like radio. The communication network is formed without the aid of any centralized authority or preexisting infrastructure. By its characteristic this type of network is self-starting and self-organizing. It has been observed that mobile ad hoc networks can be exploited for many useful applications including rural communication. Wireless Sensor Network is a collection of inexpensive sensor nodes which also form a communication network is a self organized manner. These sensors communicate with each other wirelessly. In this paper we propose architecture of an easily deployable and low cost communication system for rural areas of India which is basically a combination of Mobile Ad hoc Networks and Wireless Sensor Networks. We propose a suitable protocol stack for this architecture. In this architecture in some point in time the communication network may function as Mobile Ad hoc Network and at a later state it may be a Wireless Sensor Network or a combination of both. An idea for designing routing protocol which is highly adaptive, scalable and efficient has been proposed and this routing protocol may be well-suited for the mobile ad hoc network in discussion for rural communication. Future scope of the present work has also been outlined.