Traffic Load Distribution in Ad Hoc Networks through Mobile Internet Gateways

Ad hoc networks were initially conceived as stand-alone entities without connection to any external infrastructure. A possible solution to give access to ad hoc terminals to the Internet trough conventional WLAN networks is described in the mobile multi-gateway support. This scheme proposes to utilize a mobile node within the transmission range of the WLAN access point as a connecting gateway between the MANET and the Internet. As the gateway can move, its functionality can be transferred to another node present in the cover area of the access point acting as a router. In any case, all the traffic flowing to/from Internet passes through the same node, which can impose a bottleneck in the system. In this paper, a modification is suggested to distribute the Internet traffic among different gateways.