An approach to mobile ad hoc network protocol kernel design

This paper summarizes work underway at the University of Maryland on the design of a protocol kernel for mobile ad hoc networks. The kernel's architecture is modular, and follows a composition-based approach to protocol kernel construction. In this approach, interacting policies are logically, vertically closely-coupled, but physically loosely-coupled. Thus, various components of the kernel may be changed more easily. The architecture supports the notion of routing through an IP-layer routing "fabric", a construction which is a logical union of multiple, multi-hop topologies-each network using a different link layer technology. The architecture explicitly separates the policy functions of data routing and forwarding-an approach that more clearly associates a policy with its function, requires independent specification of both policies and results in a more flexible and configurable kernel.