Peer-to-peer overlay in mobile ad-hoc networks

Wireless multi-hop networks such as mobile ad-hoc (MANET) or wireless mesh networks (WMN) have attracted big research efforts during the last years as they have huge potential in several areas such as military communications, fast infrastructure replacement during emergency operations, extension of hotspots or as an alternative communication system. Due to various reasons, such as characteristics of wireless links, multi-hop forwarding operation, and mobility of nodes, performance of traditional peer-to-peer applications is rather low in such networks. In this book chapter, we provide a comprehensive and in-depth survey on recent research on various approaches to provide peer-to-peer services in wireless multi-hop networks. The causes and problems for low performance of traditional approaches are discussed. Various representative alternative approaches to couple interactions between the peer-to-peer overlay and the network layer are examined and compared. Some open questions are discussed to stimulate further research in this area.