Making ad hoc networking a reality: problems and solutions

Abstract

Despite the fact that many electronic evices are equipped with wireless interfaces and numerous publications on wireless ad hoc and mesh networking exist, these networks are seldom used in everyday life. A possible explanation is the fact that only few of the numerous theoretically promising proposals lead to practical solutions on real systems. Currently, wireless network design is mostly approached from a purely theoretical angle. In this paper, common theoretical assumptions are challenged and disproven, and key problems that are faced when putting theory to practice are determined by experiment. We show how these problems can be mitigated, and motivate why a heterogeneous hierarchical wireless mesh architecture, and a multidisciplinary research approach can help in making wireless ad hoc networking a reality.