A Distributed Prefix Allocation Scheme for Subordinate MANET

Routers are normally manually configured with IPv6 prefixes in the traditional network. However, due to some of the MANET inherent characteristics such as multi-hop, ad hoc and mobility, manual configuration of prefixes is not desirable and practical. Rather than relying on a dedicated server, a distributed way of allocation is more suitable in the MANET environment. In this paper, we propose a distributed scheme to allocate globally routable and topologically correct IPv6 prefix(es) to MANET routers. The allocated prefixes can then be used for address autoconfiguration of MANET router interface(s) and any associated hosts using IETF defined IPv6 stateless address autoconfiguration mechanism. Proposed scheme is implemented using ns-2.31. Simulation results for protocol signal overhead and configuration latency has been analyzed in detail.