Moving Ad Hoc Networks—A Comparative Study

Abstract

An ad hoc network is a wireless mobile communication network composed of a group of mobile nodes with wireless transceivers. It does not rely on preset infrastructure and is established temporarily. The mobile nodes of the network use their own wireless transceivers to exchange information; when the information is not within the communication range, other intermediate nodes can be used to relay to achieve communication. They can be widely used in environments that cannot be supported by wired networks or which require communication temporarily, such as military applications, sensor networks, rescue and disaster relief, and emergency response. In MANET, each node acts as a host and as a router, and the nodes are linked through wireless channels in the network. One of the scenarios of MANET is VANET; VANET is supported by several types of fixed infrastructure. Due to its limitations, this infrastructure can support some VANET services and provide fixed network access. FANET is a subset of VANET. SANET is one of the common types of ad hoc networks. This paper could serve as a guide and reference so that readers have a comprehensive and general understanding of wireless ad hoc networks and their routing protocols at a macro level with a lot of good, related papers for reference. However, this is the first paper that discusses the popular types of ad hoc networks along with comparisons and simulation tools for Ad Hoc Networks.