Democratic Leader Finding Algorithm for Large Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Abstract

In order to monitor ad hoc applications, it is necessary for MANET to possess a coordinator. Hence, a large number of protocols have been proposed for coordinator election in MANETs. Although, most of the protocols focus on reducing the number of control messages, there have been very little attention on ensuring the high availability of leader in the event of various types of failures, e.g., leader crash and unreachability of leader, especially in the scenario like rescue and warfare, where absence of leader, even for a short duration, may lead to havoc. The motivation for the present article is to address this issue, especially for large MANETs where it is impossible for most applications to run in the absence of coordinator. The proposed protocol is inspired by prevailing parliamentary polity, followed in most of the democratic countries, which always ensures the existence of an executive in order to coordinate and monitor various activities in addition to taking decisions regarding affairs of the state.