Distributed approaches to design network services in rapidly deployable wireless networks

Rapidly Deployable Wireless Networks (RDWNs) are wireless networks without any fixed infrastructure. They consist of networks in which all the nodes are mobile. We have developed protocols for two types of RDWNs, viz., Virtual Cellular Networks (VCNs) and Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs). VCNs consist of nodes in a two level hierarchy, viz., Mobile Base Stations (MBSs) at the backbone level and Mobile Nodes (MNs) at the short-hop level which are served by their nearest MBSs. All nodes are connected by wireless links. MNs communicate with other MNs via their serving MBSs. MANETs, on the other hand, have a flat topology. The mobile nodes communicate with each other via other mobile nodes and form a multi-hop network. Nodes in RDWNs expect certain services from the network to operate effectively. These include services to configure IP addresses and allocate communication channels. These services are provided in wired networks by protocols with centralized implementations. However, network services in RDWNs need to be completely distributed. As part of our research, we have developed distributed protocols to provide these services. The protocols illustrate general approaches which can be used to develop distributed network services for RDWNs. We have also developed frameworks to facilitate the porting of existing distributed services to operate effectively and efficiently in RDWNs, and design scalable network services in RDWNs.