Introduction

The concept of interconnecting computer systems began in the 1970s when a few academic institutes in the United States wanted to share data. This culminated in the development of Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), which connected four academic institutions together. The successful deployment and operation of ARPANET gave rise to limitless discussion on how information 2can be shared between devices. Topics pertinent to the architecture of a network, its operation, the number and type of interconnected devices, data type, and so on were brought into the discussion. Issues related to the type of architecture were particularly interesting. Two of the earliest architectural designs were infrastructure-based and ad hoc networks [1]. Infrastructure-based networks have a central entity, generally the base station, which governs communication between all participating devices. In contrast, in ad hoc networks, devices communicate with each other directly. Because there is no central authority in ad hoc networks, a variety of research issues emerged that required careful consideration. The number and nature of these issues progressed with the introduction of wireless communication services. On top of everything else, devices can now move from one place to another while still staying connected to the network. An ad hoc network that gives its nodes freedom from wires and supports mobile nodes is known as a mobile ad hoc network (MANET) [2].