Ana4: a 2.5 Framework for Deploying Real Multi-hop Ad hoc and Mesh Networks
Nicolas Boulicault, Guillaume Chelius and Eric Fleury
We consider the problem of interconnecting several hosts in a spontaneous hybrid and heterogeneous network, i.e. an environment where wired and multi-hop wireless technologies are used. Dealing with issues raised by such hybrid networks and addressing all challenges listed in MANet may require a departure from classical solutions available in the literature. To enable a full multi-hop connectivity without raising problems/inconsistencies regarding IP compatibility, we propose Ana4 (a.k.a. Ananas), a 2.5 layer architecture suitable for hybrid heterogeneous networks. In this article, we present the architecture and implementations of Ana4 in the context of ad hoc and mesh networks as well as application fields where Ana4 is already used. We also present experimental measurements that show good performances with respect to a full IP solution (IP routing) and similar 2.5 approaches like MPLS.