Ad Hoc Networking An Introduction

In recent years, mobile computing has enjoyed a tremendous rise in popularity. The continued miniaturization of mobile computing devices and the extraordinary rise of processing power available in mobile laptop computers combine to put more and better computer-based applications into the hands of a growing segment of the population. At the same time, the markets for wireless telephones and communication devices are experiencing rapid growth. Projections have been made that, by the year 2002, there will be more than a billion wireless communication devices in use, and more than 200 million wireless telephone handsets will be purchased annually. The rise of wireless telephony will change what it means to be “in touch”; already many people use their office telephone for taking messages while they are away and rely on their mobile telephone for more important or timely messages. Indeed, mobile phones are used for tasks as simple and as convenient as finding one’s associates in a crowded shopping mall or at a conference. A similar transformation awaits mobile computer users, and we can expect new applications to be built for equally mundane but immediately convenient uses. Much of the context for the transformation has to do with keeping in touch with the Internet. We expect to have “the network” at our disposal for the innumerable little conveniences that we have begun to integrate into our professional lives. We might wish to download a roadmap on the spur of the moment so that we can see what is available in the local area. We might wish to have driving suggestions sent to us, based on information from the global positioning system (GPS) in our car, using the services offered by various web sites. The combination of sufficiently fast and inexpensive wireless communication links and cheap mobile computing devices makes this a reality for many people today. In the future, the average traveler is likely to take such services for granted.