Ad Hoc Wireless Networks: A Communication-Theoretic Perspective

One of the new paradigms in wireless communications that is going to prevail in the next few decades is ad hoc networking.  Ad Hoc Wireless Networks seeks to explore this paradigm shift in wireless networking and presents topics ranging from the basic principles of networking and communication systems through to applications.

Looking at the topic from a “bottom-up” perspective, whereby the physical layer performance of ad hoc wireless networks is studied in detail, this book offers an alternative to the top-down approach typically pursued in computer networking.  This new perspective leads to several interesting results in the practical design of ad hoc wireless networks. In particular, this book

• Discusses the importance of the interaction between the physical and higher networking layers, and demonstrates the strong dependence of higher layer performance on physical layer capabilities and limitations
• Combines network performance, in terms of transport capacity, throughput, and delay, with MAC layer and physical layer considerations and performance
• Examines connectivity in the network based on the end-to-end multi-hop BER desired on a typical network
• Sheds light on the number of neighbours required in quasi-regular and random topologies

Written at a level that not only makes it accessible to people who are working in the area of networking and communication systems but also to the non-expert reader, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in ad hoc networking.