This chapter gives an overview of ad hoc networks, and different types of ad hoc routing
protocols.
2.2 Definition of Wireless Mobile Ad Hoc Network
Mobile Ad-hoc network (MANET) is a collection of wireless mobile nodes forming
temporary network without the aid of any stand-alone infrastructure or centralized
administration [43]. Each node has wireless interface to establish connection and information
exchange with other nodes. Examples of possible Ad-Hoc nodes are laptops and Personal
Digital Assistants (PDA). Figure 2.1 shows a simple ad hoc network, which consists of
mobile devices forming a network without any infrastructure..
Figure 2.1 An Ad Hoc network [64].
In ad-hoc networks, each wireless node has a transmission range. If all the nodes in the ad
hoc network are in the range of each other there is no need of routing protocol to exchange
data in between. However, if some of the ad hoc nodes are not within each others range then
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