Ad Hoc Wireless Networks: a Communication-Theoretic Approach

Ad hoc wireless networking is currently a hot research area, especially because there is an increasing need for connectivity “anywhere” and, in particular, “anyhow.” While traditional networks have fixed nodes with wired connections (either optical fibers or copper lines), ad hoc wireless networks can be described as multi-hop wireless networks with mobile nodes. However, the mobility condition can be relaxed, and we can consider an ad hoc wireless network as a network where all the nodes are connected to the local environment through wireless links, and where there is not a central or dominant node--as opposed to, for example, the case of cellular wireless networks where a base station is located in each cell. All the nodes in an ad hoc wireless network are at the same hierarchical level. In this sense, sensor networks can be regarded as a special case of ad hoc wireless networks.