Mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) are becoming more popular due to their ability to model interesting aspects of real wireless networks. It is easy and cheap to build such networks because no other equipment or infrastructure are required besides the mobile devices. An MANET is composed of a set of nodes distributed in the plane. A signal sent by any node can be received by all the nodes within its transmission range, which is usually taken as one unit distance. One of the primary issues related to MANETs is the development of efficient routing algorithms which perform well in various practical situations.

One routing technique is called position-based routing. In this type of routing algorithm, the message or packet to be delivered is forwarded in the direction of the destination, assuming that the forwarding node knows the positions of all neighbors in its transmission range. This information on direct neighbors is gained from I-am-here-messages that each node sends out periodically.

This seminar will introduce and analyze several wireless position-based routing techniques, including a class of recently developed position-based routing algorithms called AB (above-below) algorithms.