Wireless ad hoc networks for internet applications: real or hype?

Wireless mobile networks and devices are becoming increasingly popular as they provide users access to information and communication anytime and anywhere. Conventional wireless mobile communications are usually supported by a wired fixed infrastructure. A mobile device would use a single-hop wireless radio communication to access a base-station that connects it to the wired infrastructure. In contrast, ad hoc networks do not use any fixed infrastructure. The nodes in an ad hoc network intercommunicate via single-hop and multi-hop paths in a peer-to-peer fashion. Intermediate nodes act as routers between a pair of communicating nodes. Thus the nodes operate both as hosts as well as routers. The nodes in the ad hoc network could be potentially mobile, and so the creation of routing paths is affected by the addition and deletion of nodes. The topology of the network may change randomly, rapidly, and unexpectedly.