The Wireless Paradigm for Mobile Ad Hoc
and Mesh Networking

John A. Stine

November 16, 2005

Abstract

Most challenges in wireless ad hoc networking can be traced to solutions based on mapping wireless networks to a wireline paradigm of nodes and links. We contend that this paradigm is not appropriate since links are not physical entities but merely states of wireless networks. We propose that the alternative paradigm should match the physics of the network and manage electromagnetic spectrum in space. This presentation will provide an overview of protocol approaches for access and routing that seek solutions within this paradigm. Access is arbitrated using synchronous signaling and topology is resolved through the dissemination of node states. These protocol approaches provide an intuitive framework which enables many benefits. We will discuss its contributions to solving the challenging problems of quality of service, channelization, CDMA use, energy conservation, smart antenna/MIMO use, multicasting, and spectrum management. However, this functionality is all implemented below the Internet Protocol. A goal of this presentation is to make the case that there is a pressing need to change the current standardization approaches that isolate the link and physical layer from the routing protocols through IP to combining the three in the wireless devices and then creating new IP routing protocols that communicate with the device to learn topology rather than trying to discover it. This approach is especially ideal for mesh networking.

PDF presentation of talk

Speaker Bio

John received a BS in General Engineering from the United States Military Academy in 1981, and MS and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1990 and 2001 respectively. He served 20 years in the U.S. Army which included an assignment as an assistant professor of electrical engineering at West Point and as the coordinating analyst in the Army’s Task Force XXI experiment which was the Army’s first attempt to wirelessly network a brigade sized organization. He has been with The MITRE Corporation for four years and has spent most of that time doing research in mobile ad hoc networking. He has been funded by MITRE to continue this research for the next two years. John has authored several papers and has patents pending covering his ad hoc networking protocol work.

LM Seminar Series
Fundamentals of Networking Lab

For further information on the series, contact pam@ee.washington.edu.