Scalable policy management for ad hoc networks

The characteristics of mobile ad hoc networks (commonly called MANETs) are sufficiently different from commercial wireline networks to have generated a great deal of work in alternate management paradigms. The task of managing MANETs involves frequent reconfiguration, due to node mobility and consequently dynamically changing network topology. Network nodes often have limited battery power and storage capacity, and wireless radio link capacity and quality varies dynamically based on environmental conditions (weather, terrain, foliage, etc.). These differences have resulted in a need for paradigms particularly suited for managing MANETs. In this paper, we describe a distributed, hierarchical management system that implements policy-based control of a MANET. Policies are used to enable flexible composition of diverse management actions based on network conditions and external events. A policy conflict detection mechanism based on event calculus is used to detect certain types of policy conflicts. The rapidly changing network topology and link characteristics typical of a MANET are managed by an adaptive, self-forming hierarchy of policy agents that implement the appropriate management actions based on their management role. The system described in this paper has been prototyped and demonstrated in a laboratory environment