Towards Autonomic Network Performance Management in mobile ad hoc networks

The performance of mobile ad hoc network is influenced by a number of factors, such as protocol selections, parameter settings, wireless channel conditions, network size, transmission ranges, and traffic loads. In this work, we present an Autonomic Network Performance Management (ANPM) framework for ad hoc networks. The proposed framework follows a control-theoretic approach and is designed to monitor, model, optimize, and configure the controllable node and system-level factors to satisfy global performance goals. The functional components of the ANPM framework are presented along with a case study of establishing a call center in a disaster recovery operation using MANET. In the case study, tuning the performance of the overall network performance is shown through: (1) changing whole network protocols, and (2) changing settings within the network protocols.