Duplicate Address Detection and Autoconfiguration in OLSR

Mobile Ad hoc NETworks (MANETs) are infrastructure-free, highly dynamicwireless networks, where central administration or configuration by the user isvery difficult. In hardwired networks nodes usually rely on a centralized server and usea dynamic host configuration protocol, like DHCP [Droms et al. 2003], to acquire anIP address. Such a solution cannot be deployed in MANETs due to the unavailabilityof any centralized DHCP server. For small scale MANETs, it may be possible to allocatefree IP addresses manually. However, the procedure becomes impractical for alarge-scale or open system where mobile nodes are free to join and leave.Most of the autoconfiguration algorithms proposed for ad hoc networks are independentof the routing protocols and therefore, generate a significant overhead. Using thegenuine optimization of the underlying routing protocol can significantly reduce theautoconfiguration overhead. One of the MANET protocols which have been promotedto experimental RFC is the OLSR routing protocol [Jacquet et al. 2003], on whichthis article focuses. This article aims at complementing the OLSR routing protocolspecifications to handle autoconfiguration. The corner stone of this autoconfigurationprotocol is an advanced duplicate address detection algorithm