Rethinking Information Theory for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

The subject of this article is the long standing open problem of developing a general capacity theory for wireless networks, particularly a theory capable of describing the fundamental performance limits of mobile ad hoc networks. A MANET is a peer-to-peer network with no preexisting infrastructure. MANETs are the most general wireless networks, with single-hop, relay, interference, mesh, and star networks comprising special cases. The lack of a MANET capacity theory has stunted the development and commercialization of many types of wireless networks, including emergency, military, sensor, and community mesh networks. Information theory, which has been vital for links and centralized networks, has not been successfully applied to decentralized wireless networks. Even if this was accomplished, for such a theory to truly characterize the limits of deployed MANETs it must overcome three key roadblocks. First, most current capacity results rely on the allowance of unbounded delay and reli...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2007
• Where: CORR
• Authors: Jeffrey G. Andrews, Nihar Jindal, Martin Haenggi, Randall Berry, Syed Ali Jafar, Dongning Guo, Sanjay Shakkottai, Robert W. Heath Jr., Michael J. Neely, Steven Weber, Aylin Yener
• Keywords: CORR 2007, Education, Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, Theory, Wireless Networks