Spontnet: experiences in configuring and securing small ad hoc networks

In contrast with work focusing on routing problems in mobile ad hoc networks, we address the problem of system configuration in such networks. In particular, we are interested in ways to instantiate the configuration infrastructure - naming, addressing, authentication, and key distribution $needed to establish small-to-medium scale ad hoc networks supporting collaborative applications. We argue that, in such spontaneous networks, much of the necessary infrastructure can be derived from the face-to-face human interactions that these networks are intended to facilitate. This approach has the additional advantage of being intuitive for the nonexpert user. We describe Spontnet, our prototype implementation of a simple ad hoc network configuration utility based on these ideas. Spontnet allows users to distribute a group session key without previous shared context and to establish shared namespace. Two applications, a simple Web server and a shared whiteboard, are provided as examples of collaborative applications that could be useful in a spontaneous networking environment.