Cross-layer Networking for Peer Databases over Wireless Ad-Hoc Communities

In this paper we address the problem of efficiently distributing query messages among peers in a wireless ad hoc network. We assume that peers are organized in classes. Each peer possesses a local database and can answer queries posed by other peers. Each peer can also pose queries to all the peers belonging to a certain class and/or within a certain range of distance in the network. Contrary to traditional p2p lookup queries, we are interested in collecting answers from as many peers as possible. To efficiently serve this purpose, we take advantage of routing and application layer specifics (e.g., class information, network distance) to avoid flooding and at the same time preserve compatibility with traditional routing and transport mechanisms.