Abstract :
Address configuration and allocation to various devices participating in communication is a key challenge
in wireless mobile ad hoc networks due to the absence of specialized servers to dynamically assign addresses.
Infrastructure less nature and dynamic topology of such networks lead to major concerns such as routing, security,
QoS, address auto-configuration, reliability and scalability. Address auto-configuration protocols perform the tedious
task of assigning unique addresses to every node participating in the network taking into consideration the issues
prevailing when nodes carry duplicate addresses. They also provide support during network partitions and merges.
Assigning address to a new node participating in the network may require broadcasting probes to reflect the status
of the acquired addresses with the rest of the nodes in the network. However, it is observed that broadcasting leads
to communication and computational overhead, require more storage space, experience latency and delay which in
turn may affect the network’s overall functionality and thereby the performance. Existing approaches are analyzed
to illustrate the overheads prevailing in address auto-configuration and its protocols with respect to design,
addressing mechanism, and performance metrics, with a perspective to provide an overview of various design choices
to be considered in relevance to the requirement factors applicable to real time scenarios.
Keyword :
Auto-configuration, Stateful address allocation, Stateless address allocation, Network partition, Network merges.