Duplicate address detection and autoconfiguration in OLSR

Mobile Ad hoc NETworks (MANETs) are infrastructure-free, highly dynamic wireless networks, where central administration or configuration by the user is very difficult. In hardwired networks nodes usually rely on a centralized server and use a dynamic host configuration protocol, like DHCP [Droms et al. 2003], to acquire an IP address. Such a solution cannot be deployed in MANETs due to the unavailability of any centralized DHCP server. For small scale MANETs, it may be possible to allocate free IP addresses manually. However, the procedure becomes impractical for a large-scale or open system where mobile nodes are free to join and leave. Most of the autoconfiguration algorithms proposed for ad hoc networks are independent of the routing protocols and therefore, generate a significant overhead. Using the genuine optimization of the underlying routing protocol can significantly reduce the autoconfiguration overhead. One of the MANET protocols which have been promoted to experimental RFC is the OLSR routing protocol [Jacquet et al. 2003], on which this article focuses. This article aims at complementing the OLSR routing protocol specifications to handle autoconfiguration. The corner stone of this autoconfiguration protocol is an advanced duplicate address detection algorithm.