The time has come to explore a new generation of autonomous
wireless networks that dynamically adapt their robustness to the
hostility
of their environment and promote a sustainable
environment in terms of energy consumption and electromagnetic
pollution.
Since the last decade, wireless multi-hop networks have been lying within the scope of the rapid design and deployment of always more dynamic network architecture. This enables spontaneous networks of mobile nodes (Mobile Ad Hoc), mesh networks, sensors networks, hybrid network combining cellular concept and Ad Hoc ones and, more generally, provides the architecture for the ambient Internet and pervasive computing.
We have strong assets in specific research dedicated to such environments that make such autonomic networks possible: network modelling and performance evaluation, bandwidth sharing and resources optimizations, self-configuration, self-organisation, self-monitoring and self-healing protocols, but also IP based protocols within the framework of next-generation Internet.
Our goal is to provide transparent networking protocols for the end-user that make the management of the network disappear, provide delay-tolerant support, support various mobility patterns, and include security. The CITI has proposed a comprehensive protocol approach for self-organization, self-configuration and resources optimization combining network level information with underlying layer information (MAC, physical). We have defined a notion of entropy to characterize the efficiency of a self-organization scheme that provides a way to compare very different approaches.
Our main current challenges are to enhance the capacity due to the limitation of the radio resource, and to propose green networking protocols to cope with the energy-constraints and sustainable development. We will also use simulator tools and more precisely we promote the WSNet simulator developed internally.