A Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) is a collection of mobile nodes that act as both routers and hosts in an ad-hoc wireless network and are dynamically self-organized in a wireless network without using any pre-established infrastructure. A MANET can be defined as an autonomous and mobile system of nodes connected by wireless links such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets. MANET has been one of the most active research topics during the last ten years. With the advances in wireless technologies and the development of mobile devices, ad-hoc networks will play an important role in enabling present and future communication.
MANETs are peer-to-peer, multi-hop wireless networks in which information packets are transmitted in a store and forward manner from a source to an arbitrary destination via intermediate nodes. A MANET is a dynamic wireless network formed by a set of mobile hosts which communicate among themselves utilizing the air without any pre-existing infrastructure. Each node in the MANET can act as a router and host. Some applications of ad-hoc networks include industrial and commercial applications involving cooperative mobile data exchange. MANET can be applied to many cases where conventional networking cannot be applied. Some are Military battlefield, Sensor Networks, Disaster Area Networks, and Personal Area Networks.
