Peer-to-peer communication in mobile ad hoc networks

The utilization of peer-to-peer (P2P) overlay networks on mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) introduces new services and possibilities. It allows context based routing, data communication beyond simple IP addressing schemes and location based services (LBS) utilizing ad hoc topology information. A simple layering of both networks is inefficient and does not scale well. The virtual P2P overlay network does not match the frequently changing physical network topology of the MANET. To overcome these problems we have developed the Mobile Peer-to-Peer (MPP) protocol stack. It introduces a cross-layer communication channel between the physical layer and the virtual P2P network layer. This topology control reduces significantly the messaging overhead and increases the possibility of search successes, as we can prove in this work. In this paper, we describe the MPP protocol stack and its implementation in the Network Simulator 2 (ns-2). With this implementation we prove the significant performance improvements which can be achieved with MPP, to allow P2P networking in mobile ad hoc environments.