IPv6 Address Auto-configuration Protocol for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Abstract

The major task of an address autoconfiguration protocol in Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) is to manage the resource address space efficiently and effectively. An unconfigured node should be able to allocate a unique network address in a timely manner. Once a node leaves the network, its address should be reclaimed for future usage. The lack of a central server and hosts' mobility makes address allocation a challenging task in ad hoc networks. In recent years, various address autoconfiguration protocols have been proposed in the literature. In this paper, we present an IPv6 address configuration scheme that can allocate IPv6 addresses to the authorized hosts for a MANET. Each host can generate unique IPv6 address from its own IPv6 address and can assign those addresses to the new nodes. The scheme has been implemented in network simulator 3.13 with Ubuntu. Simulation outcome has shown that the scheme is robust and IP addresses can be allocated to nodes with an acceptable addressing latency and communication overhead.