A mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) is formed by multiple moving nodes
equipped with wireless transceivers. The mobile nodes communicate with
each other through multi-hop wireless links, where every node can transmit
and receive information. Mobile ad-hoc networks have become increasingly
important in areas where deployment of communications infrastructure is
difficult.
Notwithstanding its infancy, wireless mesh networking (WMN) is a hot and
growing field. Wireless mesh networks began in the military, but have since
become of great interest for commercial use in the last decade, both in local
area networks and metropolitan area networks. The attractiveness of mesh
networks comes from their ability to interconnect either mobile or fixed
devices with radio interfaces, to share information dynamically, or simply to
extend range through multi-hopping.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) and Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are
the two key wireless technologies that have diversified applications in the present
and the upcoming systems in this area. RFID is a wireless automated recognition
technology which is primarily used to recognize objects or to follow their posi-
tion without providing any sign about the physical form of the substance. On the
other hand, WSN not only offers information about the state of the substance
and environment but also enables multi-hop wireless communications.
