Integrating IP Mobility Management Protocols and MANET: A Survey

The Mobile ad hoc Network (MANET) is a collection of mobile devices that forms a self-created, self-administered, and self-organized network. It is an infrastructureless network that does not require an existing infrastructure to operate. MANET suits scenarios where a temporary network is needed, such as emergency rescue, the military field, and disaster areas. MANET is an isolated network, and communication is restricted to the participating nodes’ transmission coverage. In order to increase its connectivity and its application scope, however, MANET requires integration with other networks, forming a hybrid MANET. The integration of MANET and IP networks raises many challenges and issues. Mobility management is one of the main challenges. Traditional mobility management protocols provide seamless mobility in a single hop infrastructure network. Consequently, mobile nodes can maintain their global connectivity without interrupting the ongoing sessions. Mobility management becomes more challenging in a network that relies on multi-hop communication, such as MANET. This paper presents a survey of the use of mobility management systems when integrating MANET with the internet, with the objective of serving as a handy reference in this field of research. It presents, analyzes, and discusses existing mobility management solutions for integrated MANET networks. It also investigates their shortcomings and provides a comparative study of the surveyed proposals.