Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) are characterized by a degree of dynamicity that can result in significant drawbacks regarding their useful deployment. The fact they are formed spontaneously, comprising possibly heterogeneous devices, hinders further their wide adoption. In this paper we present the design and implementation of a system that exploits context-awareness and couples it with policy-based management in order to enable the self-management of MANETs. The key idea is to support self-configuration by being adaptive to varying conditions modeled as context, with high-level management policies driving self-configuration towards particular goals. We propose the management of the MANET in a hierarchical but also distributed manner through a dynamically constructed set of manager nodes. We present and evaluate our work on context-awareness and context dissemination in MANETs through simulation and also by deploying the prototype system in our experimental MANET testbed for a proof-of-concept application scenario.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The work presented in this paper was carried out in the context of the EPSRC Programmable Ad hoc Networks (PAN) project – GR/S02129/01. Work towards this paper was also partly supported by the EU EMANICS Network of Excellence project (IST-026854).
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Apostolos Malatras is a researcher and PhD candidate at the Center for Communication Systems Research, Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Surrey, United Kingdom, where he is an active member of the Networks Research Group. He holds a Diploma in computer science from the University of Piraeus, Greece and a M.Sc. degree in Information Systems from the Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece. His research interests focus on software engineering, context awareness, network management, networking, programmable networks, and communications middleware.
Antonios M. Hadjiantonis is a researcher and PhD candidate at the Center for Communication Systems Research, Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Surrey, United Kingdom, where he is an active member of the Networks Research Group. He holds a Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. His research interests focus on policy-based management, ad hoc networks, management technologies for wireless networks and ubiquitous computing.
George Pavlou is a professor of communication and information systems at the Center for Communication Systems Research, Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Surrey, United Kingdom, where he leads the activities of the Networks Research Group. He holds a Diploma in engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from University College London, United Kingdom. His research interests focus on network management, networking, and service engineering, covering aspects such protocol performance evaluation, traffic engineering, quality of service management, policy-based systems, multimedia service control, programmable networks, and communications middleware.
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Malatras, A., Hadjiantonis, A.M. & Pavlou, G. Exploiting Context-Awareness for the Autonomic Management of Mobile Ad Hoc Networks. J Netw Syst Manage 15, 29–55 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10922-006-9052-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10922-006-9052-7