Subject: [manet] Routing to and from the Internet

From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 15:04:00 -0400

Hoping not to bore anyone with this recurring topic ...

If MANET used something like RFC 1256, ICMP Router Discovery Messages, then in principle a MANET host wanting to access the Internet could keep a log of available gateways to include in its source routing list. These messages would have to be transmitted at some approriately high rate by the MANET-Internet gateways, in accordance with the mobility characteristics of that MANET (and not necessarily in accordance with RFC 1256), so each host will have a high probability of reaching the selected gateway at the right time.

The problem remains, for me, how the packet from this MANET host, having reached its intended Internet destination, can find its way back from the Internet to the MANET host.

If each MANET host is provided with an IP address applicable to that MANET, by some DHCP-like process, that would work. But if a MANET host is expected to be able to use its own IP address, as many think should be the case, then somehow the gateway would have to prepend its own IP address prefix to the MANET host's IP SA?

One hopes that when the response from the Internet arrives, that MANET-Internet gateway can still reach the original MANET host. The again, that would be true regardless.

Thanks.

Bert

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From: "Scott C. Lemon" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 17:11:14 -0600

Hello Bert,

I really like your line of thinking here, and I too have been thinking down
this line.

My interest in MANETs is for groups of mobile users with wearable computers
being able to have full data communications between them.  I have also been
creating some possible solution scenarios where the users would each have
multiple radio technologies ... one dedicated for the "peer to peer" MANET
(I am experimenting with some 900Mhz radios), and another for Internet
Access such as 802.11b/a ...

I would like for the entire MANET to have Internet access if any individual
user came close to an 802.11b access point that was Internet connected.  If
multiple MANET users were in range of APs then there would even be multiple
routes to the Internet.

My initial thoughts on this was to have my MANET users all use addresses in
the 10.x.x.x range, subnet mask 255.0.0.0 for their MANET interfaces, and
then to configure the 802.11b for DHCP.  Each user would be configured to be
a routing node, and to have NAT (Network Address Translation).  As a user
established contact with a 802.11b AP, they would DHCP and get an address
... they would then begin to advertise to the MANET as a router ... and NAT
all of the outbound traffic from the MANET to the Internet.  Traffic coming
back would be handled by the NAT and go back to the MANET node ... if it was
still reachable.

I know that some people will say there are issues with NAT and the ability
to receive inbound connections, however I have been able to solve these
issues for my applications by relaying through permanent Internet servers if
necessary.

In my scenario, every user would have the potential to become an Internet
Gateway/Router ... although they would not have to.  Also, I have thought
about the process of "grabbing" an address in the 10.x.x.x range.  Using the
entire subnet space creates the potential to have a lot of addresses, and a
user/node could just grab an address and attempt to use it ... pinging to
see if that address replies.  I am sure there is another way to do this also
... maybe SLP ...

Scott C. Lemon
HumanXtensions L.L.C.
http://www.HumanXtensions.com
http://the.Inevitable.Org/anism

   "People often talk about it being the journey, not the destination.
        Consider the possibility that there is no destination ...
                    that in life there is only journey!"

----- Original Message -----
From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Sent: Friday, June 28, 2002 1:04 PM
Subject: [manet] Routing to and from the Internet

> If MANET used something like RFC 1256, ICMP Router Discovery Messages,
then in principle a MANET host wanting to access the Internet could keep a
log of available gateways to include in its source routing list. These
messages would have to be transmitted at some approriately high rate by the
MANET-Internet gateways, in accordance with the mobility characteristics of
that MANET (and not necessarily in accordance with RFC 1256), so each host
will have a high probability of reaching the selected gateway at the right
time.
>
> The problem remains, for me, how the packet from this MANET host, having
reached its intended Internet destination, can find its way back from the
Internet to the MANET host.
>
> If each MANET host is provided with an IP address applicable to that
MANET, by some DHCP-like process, that would work. But if a MANET host is
expected to be able to use its own IP address, as many think should be the
case, then somehow the gateway would have to prepend its own IP address
prefix to the MANET host's IP SA?
>
> One hopes that when the response from the Internet arrives, that
MANET-Internet gateway can still reach the original MANET host. The again,
that would be true regardless.

---

From: "Scott C. Lemon" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2002 17:11:14 -0600

Hello Bert,

Scott C. Lemon
HumanXtensions L.L.C.