A peer-to-peer based naming system for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) are formed by collection of, potentially mobile, portable devices without established infrastructure. In such networks, connectivity is established through IP addresses and dynamic routing. MANETs are highly dynamic with frequent nodes joining and departure. Due to this node dynamicity, the node's IP address changes frequently. Therefore, to enable and run common user applications (e.g. web browsing and email) on such networks, the use of well known names that are unique and easy to remember is required. Thus a name resolution mechanism which maps names to their corresponding IP addresses has become necessary. Due to the lack of a centralized infrastructure, supporting naming resolution and address configuration becomes a difficult task and the use of the traditional DNS system becomes impossible in such networks. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a distributed naming system based on the peer-to-peer Chord protocol which provides naming resolution in the presence of mobility and node failures. Using P2PSIM simulator, we evaluate the proposed naming scheme. Simulation Results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposal.