SMPR: A Smartphone Based MANET Using Prime Numbers to Enhance the Network-nodes Reachability and Security of Routing Protocols

Mobile Adhoc Networks (MANETs) emerge as an effective solution for networking Smartphones to enable wireless communication when other alternatives such as cellular networks are not available, e.g. in rural areas. Available MANET routing protocols are either conservative (reactive protocols, e.g. AODV) to control overheads and so do not have any knowledge beyond neighboring nodes, or too expensive (proactive protocols, e.g. OLSR) on resources for Smartphone based MANET networks. Irrespective, all these protocols have limited protection against threats from malicious nodes in the vicinity. This paper proposes SMPR that enables nodes in the network to gain knowledge about the identity of their neighboring nodes. This is achieved by a process of mathematical factorisation of prime numbers performed during the route discovery process. The gained knowledge about their neighboring nodes addresses is then used to validate the participating nodes during data transmission. SMPR is a thin layer code slotted on top of the used MANET routing protocol. Simulation results using OPNET and AODV prove the advantages of SMPR and show that the introduced performance overhead is negligible.