Ad hoc innovation: distributed decision making in ad hoc networks

Mobile ad hoc networks by their nature are highly adaptive systems that can come into existence on an as needed basis. They can grow, reduce in size, fragment, and dismantle as desired. The dynamic and very flexible nature of ad hoc networks can be taken to a further level of sophistication by allowing these networks to retune and adapt themselves according to prevailing network conditions. We are interested in scenarios in which ad hoc nodes must reconfigure as part of a network-wide adaptation process such that network-wide consensus is needed before any change can take place. We present an elegant solution for attaining global consensus in MANETs based on the social science theory of the diffusion of innovations. We present results of the application of this novel approach to an ad hoc network with an adaptive reconfigurable network layer.