ABSTRACT
Wireless mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are the proposed solution for networking where infrastructure is not available and most communications are among a mobile set of nodes. MANETs are the ultimate distributed and cooperative communications systems. The free roaming radios that make up MANETs must discover each other, collaboratively organize themselves into a network, and then adapt to the continuous network redesign that is caused by their mobility, all the while sharing the same RF spectrum. Conceptually, MANETs are the most flexible form of networking. Unfortunately, their complexity results in limited performance and so they tend to be applied in situations where other networking approaches cannot be made to work. The more obvious applications of MANETs are tactical military networks and emergency networks used in disaster relief. Additional applications may be manifest if their performance can be improved. In this chapter we explore the requirements for using directional and smart antennas with contention access protocols to improve MANET performance.
