The Guerrilla management architecture for ad hoc networks

Ad hoc networks, where mobile nodes communicate via multihop wireless links, facilitate network connectivity without the aid of any pre-existing networking infrastructure. The intrinsic attributes of ad hoc networks, such as dynamic network topology, limited battery supply, constrained wireless bandwidth and quality, and large number of heterogeneous nodes, make network management significantly more challenging than stationary and wireline networks. In particular, the conventional client/server-based manager-agent management paradigm falls short of addressing these issues. We describe the Guerrilla management architecture to facilitate adaptive and autonomous management of ad hoc networks and demonstrate its capability via simulation. Apart from its functionalities, the management capability itself is scalable to accommodate the sheer number and heterogeneity of nodes, autonomous and survivable to adapt to network dynamics, and economical to minimize management overhead.