Making ad hoc networks density adaptive

Many ad hoc networks, including military networks, have a wide range of deployment densities. Further, they exhibit mobility patterns that induce continual and rapid density changes (for instance, due to the confluence and dispersion of troops). Most existing ad hoc networking protocols tacitly or explicitly ignore density variations. In this paper, we discuss the performance degradation caused by density changes, and describe techniques for resilience to density variations. In particular, we study the impact of transmit power control and directional antennas on network performance and show that significant improvements can be obtained.