22-09-2008, 09:15 AM
In the recent years communication technology and services have advanced. Mobility has become very important, as people want to communicate anytime from and to anywhere. In the areas where there is little or no infrastructure is available or the existing wireless infrastructure is expensive and inconvenient to use, Mobile Ad hoc NETworks, called MANETs, are becoming useful. They are going to become integral part of next generation mobile services. A MANET is a collection of wireless nodes that can dynamically form a network to exchange information without using any pre-existing fixed network infrastructure. The special features of MANET bring this technology great opportunities together with severe challenges. The military tactical and other security-sensitive operations are still the main applications of ad hoc networks, although there is a trend to adopt ad hoc networks for commercial uses due to their unique properties. However, they face a number of problems. In this paper, we describes the fundamental problems of ad hoc networking by giving its related research background including the concept, features, status, and applications of MANET. Some of the technical challenges MANET poses are also presented based on which the paper points out the related kernel barrier. Some of the key research issues for ad hoc networking technology are discussed in detail that are expected to promote the development and accelerate the commercial applications of the MANET technology...
