A Lightweight Soft-State Tracking Framework for Dense Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

In a mobile ad hoc network, tracking protocols need to deal with - in addition to the mobility of the target - - the mobility of the intermediate nodes that maintain a track toward the target. To address this problem, the authors propose the MDQT (Mobility-enhanced Distributed Quad Tree) tracking framework. MDQT employs a static cell abstraction to mask the mobility of the nodes and provide the illusion of a logical static network Overlaid on the mobile network. MDQT implements this virtual static network layer in a lightweight/communication-free manner by exploiting the soft-state principle and the snooping feature of wireless communication.