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Pervasive Communications Handbook

challenged by frequent topological changes in MANETs. Such topological

dynamics are further complicated by the natural grouping behavior in mobile
users movement, which leads to frequent network partitioning. Network partitioning poses significant challenges not only to the provisioning of QoS in AHNs,
but also to connection establishment at large. This is because the partitioning disconnects many mobile users from the rest of the network.
Challenges due to the Scarce Resources: The wireless spectrum is a limited
resource which must be utilized efficiently. In addition, the wireless medium is
a shared medium where signal attenuation, interference, multipath propagation
effects, such as fading, and the unguided nature of the transmitted wave all contribute to wasting the bandwidth resource. Moreover, some overhead is often
required to support reliable data transmission. Since bandwidth availability has
direct effect on the QoS routing, effective management of this resource is a key
factor in QoS routing.
Challenges due to the Absence of Communication Infrastructure: Standard
networks use an infrastructure. In MANETs, there is no pre-existing infra
structureand there is no default router, and every mobile node should be able to
act asarouter and be able to forward packets to other nodes. Therefore, a QoS
routingprotocol must consider the self-creating and self-organizing features of
MANETs.
Challenges due to Power Limitations: Power is a limited resource in MANETs.
Solutions that reduce power consumption will often be favored; all other factors
being equal. Mobile nodes need to use their battery limited power supply in a
manner that prolongs the lifetime of the battery. If the battery power is used
blindly, mobile nodes will fail quickly and this affects the network availability and
functionality. Service disruption due to power failure is therefore a problem that
needs to be avoided. Power-aware routing schemes, therefore, are designed to provide solutions for this problem. Power-aware routing routes are selected such that
nodes with high remaining power are selected. Overall, power consumption can
be considered as a quality metric for many protocols.
Challenges due to Heterogeneous Nodes and Networks: Mobile nodes can be heterogeneous, thus enabling an assortment of different types of links to be part of
the same AHN. MANETs are typically heterogeneous networks with various
types of mobile nodes. In a military application, different military units ranging
from soldiers to tanks can come together, hence forming an AHN. Nodes differ in
their power capacities and computational powers. Thus, mobile nodes will have
different packet generation rates, routing responsibilities, network activities, and
power draining rates. Dealing with node heterogeneity is a key factor for the successful operation of QoS routing in heterogeneous MANETs.
Challenges due to Link Quality: The problem of link quality is particularly significant in MANETs. The essential effect on MANETs is that the link quality can
become extremely variable, often in a random manner. Although some parts of
this effect can be predicted since variations in link quality impact packet delivery, and triggers error recovery procedures, the main QoS parameters such as
bandwidth availability, latency, reliability, and jitter are all affected. This effect