Mobile service overlays

Abstract

Distributed applications running on Mobile Adhoc NET- works (MANETs) can benefit from underlying middleware that provides services for self-management. Such services can address the dynamic conditions associated with a MANET's operational environment and changes in end user needs. This paper describes Mobile Service Overlays (MSOs), an overlay network-based decentralized middleware that provides basic support for online management, shown useful for services like online reconfiguration for managing energy consumption and failure resilience. Decentralization is achieved by partitioning the application's overlay network into smaller units termed chains, and implementing decentralized reconfigurations involving specific chains, triggered by monitoring events. The paper also presents the overheads of these services in a lightweight, non-Java implementation of MSOs targeted at an example MANET application in cooperative robotics.