Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETS) are comprised of nodes that function independently of, but in cooperation with, each other to establish a network with no fixed infrastructure.  These have applications in commerce, academia, emergency services, and the military.  For example, a fire-fighting team would be able to establish an maintain a network as it enters a forest and carry that network with it as it maneuvers to combat the forest fire.  To be effective, MANETs must automatically configure and reconfigure themselves as the different nodes move, enter, or leave the area, without any action on the part of the MANET's users.  We can't have a MIS technician parachuting out into the wilderness to set user IDs or establish router connections.  It must be all automatic and as reliable as possible.

The technical problems involved in carrying this off are immense, but they seem solvable and lots of people are working on it.  Here are links to some of the main ones.

• The IETF MANET Working Group is a chartered working group within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) whose objective is to investigate and develop candidate standard Internet routing support for mobile, wireless IP autonomous segments.
  
• Mobile Computing and Communications Review (MC²R) is the newsletter of the ACM SIGMOBILE which focuses on networks, systems, algorithms, and applications that support the symbiosis of portable computers and wireless networks. 
  
• A Wireless Ad Hoc Networks bibliography, maintained by L. E. Miller of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

My research focus is on the nature of wireless radio links and how that behavior specifically affects MANETs.  My objective is to forward the development of robust MANET routing protocols by developing tools and techniques that realistically consider the impact of fine-grained variability in signal strength.  Here are a few discussions of that topic.

• J. Mullen, H. Hong. "Impact of Multipath Fading in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks." Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Performance Evaluation of Wireless Ad Hoc, Sensor, and Ubiquitous Networks (PE-WASUN’05), October 10–13, 2005, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
  
• J. Mullen. "A proposed Method to Estimate Signal to Noise Plus Interference Levels in Order to Improve the Performance of Mobile Ad Hoc Network Routing Protocols." Presented at IPSI-2005 Amalfi, Italy, February 17-20, 2005.
  
• J. Mullen, T. Matis, S. Rangan. “The receiver's dilemma.” Mobile and Wireless Communications Networks: Proceedings of the IFIP TC6 / WG6.8 Conference on Mobile and Wireless Communications Networks (MWCN 2004). Edited by E. Belding-Royer, K. Al Agha, and G. Pujolle. October 25-27, 2004, Paris, Fr.
  
• Ramakrishnan, H. Huang, J. Mullen, and M. Balakrishnan. “Impact of Sleep in Wireless Sensor MAC Protocol.” Presented at the IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference 2004- "Wireless Technologies for Global Security" September 26-29, 2004, Los Angeles, CA.
  
• J. Mullen. “Efficient Models of Fine-Grain Variations in Signal Strength.” Technical report presented at OPNETWORK 2004, August 30 - September 3, 2004, Washington, DC.
  
• J. Mullen, T. Matis, K. Adams, S. Rangan. “Achieving Robust Protocols for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks.” Proceedings of IERC 2004 - the 2004 Industrial Engineering Research Conference, May 15 – 19, 2004. Houston, Texas. 
  
• J. Mullen, 2003. Modeling Unreliable Links in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks - This short presentation explains how multipath fading causes problems in MANETs that either do not exist or are significantly less troublesome in other types of wireless networks.
  
• J. Mullen. “Robust Approximations to the Distribution of Link Distances in a Wireless Network Occupying a Rectangular Region.” Mobile Computing and Communications Review, 7(2), pp. 80-91.
  
• Linda Riley, Bahram Nassersharif, J. Mullen, Assessment of Technology Infrastructure in Native Communities, Final Report. June 1999.  While somewhat off-topic, this report indicates the potential for MANETs in certain Native Communities.

This research is supported by the Center for Stochastic Modeling at New Mexico state University and a software grant from OPNET Technologies Inc.  This page should change several times during the summer, so you may want to check back often.

Revised: jpm28nov2005