Subject: [manet] Real-life deployment of MANETs

From: "Sudheendra Murthy" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 13:34:29 -0700

Hi all,

I have a question regarding the deployment of Mobile Ad hoc Networks
(MANETs) in real life. In the past 10 years, there has been tremendous
research attention towards MANETs. There have been thousands of research
publications on various issues in MANETs including routing, mobility,
channel assignment, power control, etc. Despite this fact, we don't hear of
any popular MANET application being used in real life. Does anyone know of
any MANET application  currently being used anywhere ? Please note that I am
not referring to any of the MANET test beds set up in universities. If there
are no real life  applications, what are the reasons for this ? Could this
be due to the lack of good business ideas surrounding MANETs or
technological barriers to the deployment of MANETs ?

Thanks,

Sudhi.
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---

From: Gus Amouris <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:13:40 -0500

Currently, the military is the largest user of MANET technology. 
Military communication networks rely almost exclusively on MANET 
technology due to the lack of infrastructure and the need to get around 
single points of failure.

Regarding real commercial/business MANET applications and opportunities 
for usage, vehicular (V2V) and airborne communication networks appear to 
be 2 prominent upcoming commercial applications of MANET technology.  
Refer to the following links for additional info:
http://www.telematicsjournal.com/content/newsfeed/9780.html
http://www.car-to-car.org
http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=14407&ch=infotech
http://spacecom.grc.nasa.gov/icnsconf/docs/2006/10_Session_C1/02-McNary.pdf

Also, if you just google 'wireless ad-hoc mesh network' you'll see a ton 
of hits regarding applications and companies trying to commercialize 
MANET technology right now as an extension to the cellular network.

Regards,
Gus

Sudheendra Murthy wrote:

> research attention towards MANETs. There have been thousands of 
> research publications on various issues in MANETs including routing, 
> mobility, channel assignment, power control, etc. Despite this fact, 
> we don't hear of any popular MANET application being used in real 
> life. Does anyone know of any MANET application  currently being used 
> anywhere ? Please note that I am not referring to any of the MANET 
> test beds set up in universities. If there are no real life  
> applications, what are the reasons for this ? Could this be due to the 
> lack of good business ideas surrounding MANETs or technological 
> barriers to the deployment of MANETs ?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sudhi.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>

---

From: "Manos Antonakakis" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 18:57:17 -0400

Sudhi,

Maybe you want to read this paper;
Huang, E., Hu, W., Crowcroft, J., and Wassell, I. 2005. Towards commercial
mobile ad hoc network applications: a radio dispatch system. In *Proceedings
of the 6th ACM international Symposium on Mobile Ad Hoc Networking and
Computing* (Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA, May 25 - 27, 2005). MobiHoc '05.

I believe that currently the MANETs are not mature enough in order to be
fully commercialized. However, MANETs could be used as back up solutions
when the primary wired (or wireless) network fails. In order to
commercialize the MANETs you have to provide a pretty good level of network
security as well.

Take care,

Manos

On 3/26/07, Gus Amouris <[email-masked]> wrote:
>
>  Currently, the military is the largest user of MANET technology. Military
> communication networks rely almost exclusively on MANET technology due to
> the lack of infrastructure and the need to get around single points of
> failure.
>
> for usage, vehicular (V2V) and airborne communication networks appear to be
> 2 prominent upcoming commercial applications of MANET technology.  Refer to
> the following links for additional info:
> of hits regarding applications and companies trying to commercialize MANET
> technology right now as an extension to the cellular network.
>
> Regards,
> Gus
>
>
>
> Sudheendra Murthy wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> ------------------------------
>
> [email-masked]://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/manet
>
>

-- 
Manos Antonakakis
Graduate Student, Computer Science
Georgia Tech Information Security Center
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~manos
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---

From: "Templin, Fred L" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:09:37 -0700

Note also that MANETs do not necessarily have to be mobile
or even wireless, e.g., a home network consisting of one or
several links on which the user adds new equipment or removes
old equipment from time to time could be considered as a
simple case of a MANET. (From a protocol perspective, periodic
plugging or removing of equipment would be indistinguishable
from mobility events.)

Fred
[email-masked]   

________________________________

	From: Gus Amouris [mailto:[email-masked]] 
	Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 4:14 PM
	To: Sudheendra Murthy
	Cc: [email-masked]
	Subject: Re: [manet] Real-life deployment of MANETs

	Regarding real commercial/business MANET applications and
opportunities for usage, vehicular (V2V) and airborne communication
networks appear to be 2 prominent upcoming commercial applications of
MANET technology.  Refer to the following links for additional info:
	http://www.telematicsjournal.com/content/newsfeed/9780.html
	http://www.car-to-car.org

http://spacecom.grc.nasa.gov/icnsconf/docs/2006/10_Session_C1/02-McNary.
pdf
	
	Also, if you just google 'wireless ad-hoc mesh network' you'll
see a ton of hits regarding applications and companies trying to
commercialize MANET technology right now as an extension to the cellular
network.
	
	Regards,
	Gus

	Sudheendra Murthy wrote:

		Hi all,
		
		I have a question regarding the deployment of Mobile Ad
hoc Networks (MANETs) in real life. In the past 10 years, there has been
tremendous research attention towards MANETs. There have been thousands
of research publications on various issues in MANETs including routing,
mobility, channel assignment, power control, etc. Despite this fact, we
don't hear of any popular MANET application being used in real life.
Does anyone know of any MANET application  currently being used anywhere
? Please note that I am not referring to any of the MANET test beds set
up in universities. If there are no real life  applications, what are
the reasons for this ? Could this be due to the lack of good business
ideas surrounding MANETs or technological barriers to the deployment of
MANETs ? 
		
		Thanks,
		
		Sudhi.
		
		________________________________

---

From: Joe Carey <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:18:36 -0600

Sudheendra,

Gus has given some insightful comments.  I agree with the points he made.

I would add that most municipal or metro-scale mesh networks are based 
on MANET technology.  Although they don't typically take advantage of 
the mobile aspect of MANETs, these networks are typically self-forming, 
self-healing, and exhibit dynamic routing.  This space is in 
considerable flux at the moment and the business model is not yet 
proven.   Last time I looked, more than 200 municipalities had RFPs on 
the street looking for solutions that could cover their cities with WiFi 
clouds. 

Some commercial entities offering equipment are: Tropos (the most units 
deployed), Meraki (from the people who brought you MIT Roofnet), 
packethop, mesh dynamics, firetide and strix.  Each of these has a 
somewhat different flavor of meshing; most are proprietary.  
Additionally, some companies long known for their APs are adding meshing 
capabilities: Cisco, with the model 1500, 3eTI, Proxim and others.  The 
field is very crowded. 

Earthlink and MobilePro (via Kite Networks) are offering WiFi service on 
a metropolitan scale based on this sort of technology & equipment.   I'm 
sure there are other big names who are in or will be entering this space 
shortly.

Most of these metro-scale networks are based on giving network access to 
nomadic users (i.e. people who stand stand still while participating in 
the network and can give it most of their attention).  My opinion is the 
reason we see little in the way of commercial application for _mobile_ 
ad-hoc networks is probably based on the nature of the application.   
What is the user application that requires data network access while 
mobile?  Most applications require more attention than a person can 
offer while safely operating a vehicle.  The killer application for 
mobile network access is the voice phone call and cellular is a mature 
technology that serves that need in most of the world.   I know 
exceptions exist, but in my opinion this is the general situation.  
Please - no flames.

I hope this helps. 

Kindest regards,

joe

Gus Amouris wrote:
> technology due to the lack of infrastructure and the need to get 
> around single points of failure.
>
> Also, if you just google 'wireless ad-hoc mesh network' you'll see a 
> ton of hits regarding applications and companies trying to 
> commercialize MANET technology right now as an extension to the 
> cellular network.
>
> Regards,
> Gus
>
>
>
> Sudheendra Murthy wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> (MANETs) in real life. In the past 10 years, there has been 
>> tremendous research attention towards MANETs. There have been 
>> thousands of research publications on various issues in MANETs 
>> including routing, mobility, channel assignment, power control, etc. 
>> Despite this fact, we don't hear of any popular MANET application 
>> being used in real life. Does anyone know of any MANET application  
>> currently being used anywhere ? Please note that I am not referring 
>> to any of the MANET test beds set up in universities. If there are no 
>> real life  applications, what are the reasons for this ? Could this

---

From: "Roy, Radhika R." <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:47:51 -0400

True.
 
Those ad hoc networks can be considered as a subset of MANETs.
 
Radhika

From: [email-masked] on behalf of Templin, Fred L
Sent: Mon 3/26/2007 7:09 PM
To: Gus Amouris; Sudheendra Murthy
Cc: [email-masked]
Subject: RE: [manet] Real-life deployment of MANETs

Fred

---

From: "Mullen, John" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 19:41:48 -0600

Strange you should ask.
 
I just got a new printer today. It has a wireless ad-hoc network mode,
compatible with 802.11b.
 
It appears it is auto configuring, but not multi-hop.
 
I did use a multi-hop printer network about ten years ago. If you wanted
to print, the wireless card would try to reach the printer. If it could
not do so, it would attempt to find a multihop path and forward the
print job through other computers in the lab. It was a commercial
product. You bought as many wireless cards as you needed and installed
the software on each machine. I don't remember the name of it, but I do
remember it worked quite well and made running the lab a lot easier.
 
At least, until Microsoft changed its operating system.
 
:-)

John P. Mullen, Ph.D.
(505) 646-2958
[email-masked]

From: Sudheendra Murthy [mailto:[email-masked]] 
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 2:34 PM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: [manet] Real-life deployment of MANETs

Hi all,

I have a question regarding the deployment of Mobile Ad hoc Networks
(MANETs) in real life. In the past 10 years, there has been tremendous
research attention towards MANETs. There have been thousands of research
publications on various issues in MANETs including routing, mobility,
channel assignment, power control, etc. Despite this fact, we don't hear
of any popular MANET application being used in real life. Does anyone
know of any MANET application  currently being used anywhere ? Please
note that I am not referring to any of the MANET test beds set up in
universities. If there are no real life  applications, what are the
reasons for this ? Could this be due to the lack of good business ideas
surrounding MANETs or technological barriers to the deployment of MANETs
? 

Thanks,

Sudhi.

---

From: "Templin, Fred L" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:16:57 -0700

Another example of a MANET is that a singleton MANET router
could be considered a MANET unto itself, albeit a degenerate
one. Note though that the MANET router could contain an
arbitrarily-complex network of nodes within, e.g., a system
with multiple virtual operating systems running inside of
it, a cruise ship, an airplane, an automobile, etc.

Fred