Using NEMO to Extend the Functionality of MANETs

Abstract

Network mobility is an established topic of research which has the potential capability to support many valuable scenarios. Specifically, the ability to support the mobility of entire networks of IP enabled devices that are oblivious to the changing network conditions beneath them is particularly useful to numerous scenarios such as vehicle based networks and personal area networks (PAN). In this paper, we present an efficient and scalable approach that allows mobile networks to intercommunicate and be reachable via the Internet both directly (via their own Internet connection) and indirectly (via another mobile network with an Internet connection). The implemented approach is based on the concept of combining the beneficial features of mobile ad-hoc networking (MANET) protocols and the network mobility basic support (NEMO BS) protocol to develop what is known as a MANEMO solution. In the paper we highlight the key performance characteristics of our protocol through analysis of our implementation in a testbed environment.