Adaptive Hello for the Neighborhood Discovery Protocol

In typical Mobile Ad-Hoc Network (MANET) applications, the network topology changes frequently due to device movement, or link failure. Consequently, a fast response to connectivity changes is one of the most important challenges in MANETs. Most proactive routing protocols detect changes by exchanging control messages. The Neighborhood Discovery Protocol (NHDP) specifies the exchange of these kind of messages. As shown in prior studies, the proposed fixed intervals of NHDP cause unnecessary protocol overhead or late link detection. Our Adaptive HELLO (AH) scheme adapts the interval dynamically with respect to the actual situation and coordinates it between the nodes when necessary. The result is a fast link change detection and an overhead reduction in certain scenarios.