INDI: Adapting the multicast DNS service discovery infrastructure in mobile wireless networks

Service-based discovery mechanisms for dynamic mobile ad-hoc and mesh networks require additional robustness and performance features beyond present practices. However, leveraging existing standards and application service interfaces where possible will aid in wider deployment. To achieve the latter, supporting standardized protocols is desirable, but present approaches focus on fixed Internet use and do not provide solutions suitable for self-organizing wireless architectures. We have previously reported on the merits of different profiles (proactive, reactive and opportunistic caching), the use of limited multi-hop multicast, and information exchange reduction to improve service discovery in wireless ad hoc environments, using our Independent Network Discovery Interface (INDI) discovery system. In this paper, we describe the integration of INDI functionality with an already widely deployed localized service discovery method, multicast DNS (mDNS). We show resulting INDI interoperability with mDNS and compare and contrast the underlying approaches, through the use of networking tools, to provide empirical evidence illustrating the advantages of INDI-mDNS, when applied in a MANET context.