A Negotiation Framework for the Composition of Registries in Ambient Networks

Ambient Networks (AN) is a new networking concept for beyond 3G. Network composition is a core concept of AN. It provides dynamic cooperation between heterogeneous networks. Each ambient network can host several registries. When the networks compose, the registries also have to compose. This composition is based on a composition agreement that must be negotiated between the different parties involved. This paper presents a framework for dynamic negotiation of an agreement for the composition of registries. It presents the framework principles and a template for the composition agreement proposals, and describes the main steps of the negotiation. It also describes the negotiation protocol (i.e. entities, messages and state diagrams). We have validated our protocol using SPIN, a software tool for simulating and validating distributed systems behavior. The process and the results are discussed.