Simple and backwards compatible layer-2 routing for multi-technology personal area networks

Users increasingly own multiple devices with a number of network interfaces. These devices support different communications technologies that enable the creation of multi-technology Personal Area Networks (PANs). Yet, without a routing solution, connectivity between any two devices in the PAN is not guaranteed. State of the art PAN routing solutions are complex, do not guarantee shortest routes, and are not fully backwards compatible, precluding the plug & play integration of legacy devices in the PAN. We propose GLUE, a simple and backwards compatible PAN routing approach, based on transparent bridging and a novel spanning tree mechanism. Simulation and experimental results show the feasibility of our solution, a reduction of one order of magnitude in the route configuration delay, and its good performance in terms of data throughput and delay, when compared against state of the art solutions.