Name resolution in on-demand MANETs and over external IP networks

Common user applications cannot run in mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) before a method for name resolution is in place. While the domain name system (DNS) works well on the fixed Internet, it represents a centralized approach to name resolution, which is not suitable for MANETs. This article refines the framework developed for name resolution in MANETs and shows a mechanism for local name resolution can be implemented transparently to the application. It also proposes methods to align local name resolution on the MANET with DNS over external IP networks, forming one integrated method for name resolution. Finally, different strategies for how to store name-to-address mappings on the MANETs are discussed.