TriM: Tri-Modal Data Communication in Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks

A MANET is a group of wireless, mobile, battery-powered clients and servers that autonomously form temporary networks. Increasingly, research in MANET data communication has been addressed. Three data communication modes can be provided in a MANET, data broadcast, data query, and peer-to-peer messaging. Currently, no MANET data communication protocol provides the ability to use all MANET data communication modes. The objective of this research is to develop a MANET data communication protocol, TriM (for Tri-Modal communication), capable of providing all three data communication methods. TriM was designed to accommodate network disconnection and reconnection through periodic synchronization. Protocol design provides contention free data broadcast. Each part of the protocol design has minimum power consumption as a goal. Simulation showed TriM minimizes the average power consumption of servers and clients while accommodating node disconnection. Simulation also showed that TriM performs well in comparison to the Leader Selection protocol.