Application layer versus cross-layer service discovery protocols in MANETs

Service discovery in mobile ad hoc networks is challenging because of the absence of any central intelligence in the network. Traditional solutions as used in the Internet are hence not well suited for mobile ad hoc networks. This paper focuses on traditional application layer service discovery protocols (SDP) shortcomings by presenting a fair comparison between application layer and cross-layer protocols. We present and examine our simulation results for both BF-SD-ZRP and SLPManet protocols in order to demonstrate their efficiency and shortcomings in terms of overhead, energy consumption and service discoverability using the scalable network simulator Jist/Swans.