An IP Address Configuration Algorithm for Zeroconf. Mobile Multi-hop Ad-Hoc Networks

Mobile multi-hop ad-hoc networks promise an efficient and very flexible way of establishing a communication connection. One aspect of these kind of networks is their convenience, which is sometimes neglected in research. Especially for civil applications, this aspect of ad-hoc networks need more attention. It is expected that users neither need to know much of networks nor perform complex configuration tasks to establish a connection. Therefore this kinds of networks have to not only handle a very difficult environment, but also have to be very easy to use. One of the basic requirement of networking is that each node in the network has a unique identification, also called an address. In the internet and in local area networks IP addresses are common. Mobile ad-hoc networks should also use IP addresses thus the devices will be same and also to allow the interconnection of ad-hoc networks to the internet. It is an open question how to provide IP addresses to nodes in mobile multi-hop ad-hoc networks. In this work we introduce a new dynamic IP address configuration algorithm for mobile multi-hop ad-hoc networks. Further we show through simulation results, made with ns-2, the performance of the proposed addressing algorithm and compare it with other approaches. ∗Published in ”International Workshop on Broadband Wireless Ad-Hoc Networks and Services, Sophia Antipolis, France, September, 2002” 1 Motivation An ad-hoc network consists of several mobile nodes which communicate over radio and do not need any fixed communication infrastructure. Adhoc networks are suitable for situations where only temporary communication is needed, and establishing a communication infrastructure is either not possible or not desirable. As an example for an ad-hoc network, we can imagine a meeting in which the members want to interchange data. The participants do not want to make high efforts for the network configuration, perhaps the users are not technically skilled. In addition the users wish a convenient way for their cooperation. In contrast to other radio networks, like GSM and WLAN, where only one radio link exists, data must be relayed over several intermediate nodes in ad-hoc networks. This kind of communication is typical for ad-hoc networks, which are also referred to as mobile multi-hop ad-hoc networks. As a consequence of node mobility the network topology changes continuously. There are no special nodes which are always reachable and could therefore offer important services. Furthermore, it is not possible to make reliable predictions about node actions. Nodes may attach and detach to the ad-hoc network if and when they wish to. It is also possible that the ad-hoc network splits into several smaller networks or join and create a new big network. The main problem in ad-hoc networks is finding a path between the source and the destina-