Uisce: Characteristic-based routing in mobile ad hoc networks

The goal of communication in computer networks is the delivery of information to endpoints with certain properties. In wired networks, identities such as IP addresses are used to guide information through a network and the properties of network nodes are mapped to these identities by service discovery mechanisms. In mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), identities lose their guiding ability because of the dynamism of the topology. Instead of identities, we introduce a concept called a characteristic, which describes the properties of nodes. Characteristics are disseminated throughout a network, simulating the flow of water streams. Messages are forwarded to their destinations nodes with given properties following these characteristics like following a water stream to its source. Characteristic-based routing differs from existing content-based routing in that a characteristic describes features of MANET nodes rather than contents of data messages. A trace characteristic is left by data messages along their forwarding path. Subsequent data messages can be forwarded to the same destination node and reply messages can be delivered back to the sender of data messages following the trace characteristic. We demonstrate that a characteristic-based approach increases the rate of successful delivery in comparison to existing identity based approaches in MANETs. Then we analyze the ability of trace characteristics to maintain routes for subsequent data messages in different mobility settings.