Abstract
This chapter provides a detailed description of a framework for designing, analyzing, deploying, and enforcing high level security management for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs). The framework, which can be used by researchers, academics, security administrators, network designers, and post-graduate students, is designed and simulated using the object oriented Network Simulator-2 (NS-2). In this chapter, the authors also provide a full illustration of how to design and implement a secure MANET, while maintaining the security essentials using NS-2. Then, they describe the characteristics, applications, design, coding style, advantages/disadvantages, and implementation of the NS-2 simulator. Finally, this chapter provides a description of the future trend NS-3, which is the “eventual replacement” of NS-2.
TopMobile Ad Hoc Networks (Manets)
A MANET is a group of large autonomous wireless nodes interconnecting each other on a peer-to-peer basis in a heterogeneous environment with no pre-define infrastructure. The field of communications networks continues to evolve, a need for wireless connectivity and mobile communication is rapidly emerging. To meet the need for fast and reliable information exchange, communication networks have become an integral part of our society. The success of any corporation largely depends upon its ability to communicate. Ad hoc wireless networks will enhance communication capability significantly by providing connectivity from anywhere at any time, referring to the relatively newly emerging technology pervasive (or ubiquitous) networks. The principle behind ad hoc networking is multi-hop (a scenario of multi-hop will be shown later) relaying, which traces its roots back to 500 B.C. Darius I (533-486 B.C.), the king of Persia, invented an innovative communication system that was used to send messages and news from his capital to the remote provinces of his empire by means of a line of shouting men positioned on tall structures or heights. This system was more than 23 times faster than normal messengers available at that time. The use of ad hoc voice communication was introduced in many ancient/ tribal societies with a string of repeaters of drums, trumpets or horns.
In 1970, DARPA (Defence Advanced Research Project Agency) (Dugan, 2010) had a project known as Packet Radio, where several wireless terminals could communicate with one another on a battlefield. Packet radio extended the concept of packet switching (evolved from point-to-point communication networks) to the domain of broadcast radio networks.
During the 1970s, a group of researchers led by Norman Abramson (and others including N. Gaarder and N. Weldon) invented ALOHAnet (Abramson, 1985), which linked the universities of the Hawaiian Islands together by broadcast property to send/receive data packets in a single radio hop system. Even though ALOHAnet was established for fixed single-hop wireless networks, the ALOHA project led to the development of a multi-hop multiple-access packet radio network (PRNET) under the sponsorship of the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) (Dugan, 2010). Unlike ALOHA, PRNET permits multi-hop communications over a wide geographical area, helping to establish the notion of ad hoc wireless networking in the same year (Mohapatra & Krishnamurth, 2004).