RFC 2501 (rfc2501) - Page 1 of 12
Mobile Ad hoc Networking (MANET): Routing Protocol Performance Issues and Evaluation Considerations
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group S. Corson
Request for Comments: 2501 University of Maryland
Category: Informational J. Macker
Naval Research Laboratory
January 1999
Mobile Ad hoc Networking (MANET):
Routing Protocol Performance Issues and Evaluation Considerations
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This memo first describes the characteristics of Mobile Ad hoc
Networks (MANETs), and their idiosyncrasies with respect to
traditional, hardwired packet networks. It then discusses the effect
these differences have on the design and evaluation of network
control protocols with an emphasis on routing performance evaluation
considerations.
1. Introduction
With recent performance advancements in computer and wireless
communications technologies, advanced mobile wireless computing is
expected to see increasingly widespread use and application, much of
which will involve the use of the Internet Protocol (IP) suite. The
vision of mobile ad hoc networking is to support robust and efficient
operation in mobile wireless networks by incorporating routing
functionality into mobile nodes. Such networks are envisioned to
have dynamic, sometimes rapidly-changing, random, multihop topologies
which are likely composed of relatively bandwidth-constrained
wireless links.
Within the Internet community, routing support for mobile hosts is
presently being formulated as "mobile IP" technology. This is a
technology to support nomadic host "roaming", where a roaming host
may be connected through various means to the Internet other than its
well known fixed-address domain space. The host may be directly
physically connected to the fixed network on a foreign subnet, or be
Corson & Macker Informational