Self-tuning network support for MANETs

Rapid and unpredictable topology changes and resource constraints make delivering packets in a MANET (mobile ad hoc network) a challenging task. Routing information has to be updated to reflect the topology changes and maintain the correctness of route selection. On the other hand, the dissemination of control messages has to be optimised for efficient resource usage and to alleviate channel contention problems. To solve this problem, this dissertation focuses on how to automatically tune routing performance for MANETs in terms of packet delivery ratio and control overhead. The impacts of soft state signalling, especially the refresh intervals, are studied under various scenarios. A variety of topology advertisement strategies are presented. Two self-tuning neighbour detection schemes are proposed, the dynamic timer algorithm and the fast neighbour handshake algorithm, in order to enhance routing performance.