Internet-orientated ad-hoc network

• US 8,184,605 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2011
• Issued: 05/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Connectivities, LLC
• Original Assignee: Connectivities, LLC
• Inventors: Levendel, Issac, Hara, Jacques
• Primary Examiner(s): Corsaro, Nick
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ajayi, Joel
• Application Number:
  US13/080,362
• Publication Number:
  US 20110268013A1
• Time in Patent Office: 413 Days
• Field of Search: 455/445, 455/11.1
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/122 by minimising distances, e.g. by selecting a route with minimum of number of hops
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/22 using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/248 Connectivity information update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/22 with access to wired networks

Abstract

A hierarchical directional internet-oriented ad-hoc network, defined by a software infrastructure, is composed of gateway nodes and a plurality of wireless nodes, which may be fixed or mobile, and which may act as subscribers, routers, or both. The infrastructure hierarchy is defined by the hop count of each node (distance of that node to a fixed gateway node). The software infrastructure includes two tables associated with each node in the network: the upstream routing table which provides shortest routes to fixed gateway nodes through upstream neighbors, and the downstream routing table which provides shortest routes to subscribers through downstream neighbors. These two tables are used by routing algorithms. A peer table can also be used for alternate routes. The maintenance of the aforementioned tables is performed by autonomous algorithms operating locally on each node by receiving and processing signals from their neighbors.

Claims

1. An Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network, comprising:

a plurality of nodes;

wherein the nodes are communicatively accessible through any number of intermediate nodes, are capable of maintaining connectivity with each other when a gateway node is unavailable and are able to communicate upstream with any number of intermediate nodes;

each of the nodes including transceivers, at least one node Ni further including an upstream routing table (URT), a peer table (PT), a downstream neighborhood table (DNT) and a downstream routing table (DRT), the at least one node being configured to use the associated tables to make routing decisions, and the at least one node configured to act as a relay for other nodes that cannot directly access a gateway node;

wherein the at least one node Ni is configured to survive in an isolated condition;

wherein the URT of the at least one node Ni is updated independently by the node Ni and lists each upstream neighboring node that is closer by one hop, to a particular gateway node than is the node Ni, together with the hop count from the upstream neighboring node to the particular gateway;

wherein the PT of the node Ni is updated independently by the node Ni and lists each peer node, defined as a neighboring node that has equal distance, as measured by hop count, to a particular gateway node as the node Ni, together with an associated hop count to the particular gateway node;

wherein the DNT of the node Ni is updated independently by the node Ni and lists each neighboring downstream node that is one hope count further away from a particular gateway node than the node Ni, together with the hop count of the downstream neighboring node to the particular gateway node;

wherein the DRT of the node Ni is updated independently by the node Ni and lists each downstream node Nk, as defined by a node that can communicate with the node Ni and is further away from the node Ni, as measured by hop counts of the nodes Ni and Nk to a particular gateway node, together with the hop count of the downstream node Nk to the node Ni;

wherein the at least one node Ni periodically broadcasts a trigger message that comprises a node identification and hop count corresponding to a particular node to inform neighboring nodes that the particular node is present;

wherein the at least one node Ni independently and periodically receives and processes control signals from neighboring nodes; and

wherein the at least one node Ni updates the tables within itself and the at least one node Ni communicates changes to neighboring nodes.

2. The network of claim 1, wherein the at least one node is selected from the group consisting of a wireless node, a fixed node, and both a wireless node and a fixed node.

3. The network of claim 2, wherein the at least one node is selected from the group consisting of a gateway node, a relay node, and both a gateway node and a relay node.

4. The network of claim 1, wherein the at least one node is configured to function as a gateway node in communication with the Internet and is configured to function as a wireless node.

5. The network of claim 1, wherein the at least one node functions as a relay for a remote gateway node and functions as a gateway node for other nodes.

6. The network of claim 1, wherein each node includes a peer downstream routing table (PDRT) of each peer node.

7. The network of claim 1, wherein the node includes a plurality of gateway nodes, for every gateway Gj, the wireless node Ni can communicate with, node Ni has a different set of tables, URTij, PTij, DNTij and DRTij;

wherein the URTij of the node Ni with respect to the gateway Gj lists each upstream neighboring node that is closer by one hop to the gateway Gj than the node Ni, together with the hop count of the upstream node to the gateway Gj;

the PTij of the node Ni with respect to the gateway Gj lists each peer node, as defined as a neighboring node that has equal distance, as measured by a hop count, to the gateway Gj as Ni, together with an associated hop count to the gateway Gj;

the DNTij of the node Ni with respect to the gateway Gj lists each downstream neighboring node that is further away from the gateway Gj than Ni, together with the hop count of the downstream node to the gateway Gj; and

the DRTij of the node Ni with respect to the gateway Gj lists each downstream node, as defined by a node that is reachable from Ni and is further away, as measured by a hop count, from the gateway Gj than Ni, together with the hop count of the downstream node to the gateway Gj;

wherein the node Ni independently receives and processes control signals from neighboring nodes; and

wherein the node Ni updates the tables within itself and each node communicates changes to neighboring nodes.

8. The network of claim 1, wherein the gateway node is connected to the Internet via a central node.

9. The network of claim 8, wherein the central node is connected to at least one other gateway node.

10. The network of claim 1, wherein each of the nodes is configured to act as a relay for other nodes that cannot directly access the gateway node.

11. The network of claim 1, wherein all of the nodes are mobile, wireless nodes.

12. The network of claim 1, wherein some of the nodes are mobile, wireless nodes and other nodes are fixed, wireless nodes.

13. The network of claim 1, wherein the DRTs are indexed by destination node.

14. The network of claim 1, wherein the DRTs are indexed by downstream neighbor.

15. The network of claim 1, wherein the DRTs are indexed by both destination node and downstream neighbor.

16. A method for Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network upon a failure, the Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network including a multiplicity of nodes, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a packet by at least one node Ni;

wherein the network includes a plurality of nodes;

wherein the nodes are communicatively accessible through any number of intermediate nodes, are capable of maintaining connectivity with each other when a gateway node is unavailable and are able to communicate upstream with any number of intermediate nodes; and

wherein at least one node Ni in the network includes an upstream routing table (URT), a peer table (PT), a downstream neighboring table (DNT) and a downstream routing table (DRT);

wherein the URT is updated independently by the node Ni and lists each upstream neighboring node that is closer by one hop to a particular node than the node Ni, together with the hop count of the upstream node to the particular node;

wherein the PT is updated independently by the node Ni and lists each peer node, as defined as a neighboring node that has equal distance, as measured by hop count, to a particular node as the node Ni, together with an associated hop count to the particular node;

wherein the DNT is updated independently by the node Ni and lists each neighboring downstream node that is further away from a particular node than the node Ni, together with the hop count of the downstream node to the particular node; and

wherein the DRT is updated independently by the node Ni and lists each downstream node, as defined by a node that is reachable from the node Ni and is further away, as measured by a hop count, from a particular node than the node Ni, together with the hop count of the downstream node;

receiving a trigger message by the receiving node Ni, wherein the trigger message is generated by a neighboring node; and

updating the tables of the receiving node Ni by the receiving node Ni and thus reorganizing the network.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein receiving a packet by node Ni, wherein the network includes a plurality of nodes comprises receiving the packet by node Ni, wherein the network includes a plurality of nodes, wherein the at least one node Ni is selected from the group consisting of a wireless node, a fixed node, and both a wireless node and a fixed node.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein receiving a packet by node Ni, wherein the network includes a plurality of nodes comprises receiving the packet by node Ni, wherein the network includes a plurality of nodes, wherein the at least one node Ni is selected from the group consisting of a gateway node, a relay node, an isolated node and both a gateway node and a relay node.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

generating a trigger message D1 when the packet cannot be sent successfully from the node Ni to a downstream neighbor Nk in the DNT of the node Ni;

processing the generated trigger message D1 by removing the downstream neighbor Nk to which the packet could not be sent from the DNT of the node Ni;

updating the DRT of the node Ni;

computing a downstream cluster by calculating a union of columns of the DRT and adding the node Ni and its hop count 0; and

sending a trigger message T4 including the downstream cluster to upstream neighbors of the node Ni and to at least one peer.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein sending a trigger message T4 including the downstream cluster to upstream neighbors comprises sending a trigger message T4 including the downstream cluster to upstream neighbors of the node Ni and to all peers and further comprising a computation loop prevention system.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

generating a trigger message D2 upon the occurrence of the event when the packet cannot be sent successfully from the node Ni to a destination node Nd in the DRT of node Ni;

processing the generated trigger message D2 by computing a downstream cluster, the computing comprising calculating a union of columns of the DRT and adding the node Ni and its hop count 0; and

sending a trigger message T4 including the downstream cluster to upstream neighbors and to at least one peer of the node Ni.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein sending a trigger message T4 including the downstream cluster to upstream neighbors comprises sending a trigger message T4 including the downstream cluster to upstream neighbors and to all peers of the node Ni and further comprising a computation loop prevention system.

23. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

generating a trigger message U1 when the packet cannot be sent successfully from the node Ni to an upstream neighbor Nk in the URT of the node Ni;

processing the generated trigger message U1 by removing the upstream neighbor Nk to which the packet could not be sent from the URT of the node Ni;

if the URT is not empty, ending the process; and

if the URT is empty;

making the PT of node Ni the new URT of the receiving node Ni;

making the DNT of node Ni the new PT of the receiving node Ni;

emptying the DNT and DRT of node Ni;

if the new URT of node Ni is empty, setting a hop count of node Ni to infinity and ending the process; and

if the new URT of node Ni is not empty;

computing a downstream cluster by calculating a union of columns of the DRT and adding node Ni and its hop count 0; and

sending a trigger message T4 including the downstream cluster to upstream neighbors and to at least one peer of node Ni.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein sending a trigger message T4 including the downstream cluster to upstream neighbors comprises sending a trigger message T4 including the downstream cluster to upstream neighbors and to all peers of the node Ni and further comprising a computation loop prevention system.

25. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

in response to node Ni receiving the trigger message T4, modifying the trigger message T4 by increasing all hop counts of nodes in the trigger message T4 by one;

replacing the Nk column of the DRT of node Ni by the modified T4; and

if the hop count of the node Ni is zero, ending the process; and

if the hop count of the node Ni is not zero;

computing a downstream cluster by calculating a union of columns of the DRT and adding node Ni and its hop count 0;

if Nk is in PTi, then sending a trigger message T4 including the downstream cluster to upstream neighbors of node Ni in URTi; and

if Nk is not in PTi, then sending a trigger message T4 including the downstream cluster to upstream neighbors of node Ni in URTi and PTi.

26. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

periodically broadcasting a trigger message T5 by each node, each trigger message T5 comprising a node ID and hop count corresponding to a particular node to inform neighboring nodes that the particular node is present;

generating a trigger message T5 upon predetermined changes;

receiving at receiving node Ni the trigger message T5 sent by a sending node Nk;

comparing the hop count of the receiving node Ni with the hop count of the sending node Nk;

if a difference between the hop count of the receiving node Ni and the hop count of the sending node Nk is greater than 2;

removing Nk from the neighborhood of Ni if Nk is in the neighborhood;

moving and adding all the nodes of the URT and PT of node Ni into the DNT of node Ni;

moving Nk into the URT of Ni;

resetting the hop count of Ni to the hop count of Nk augmented by 1; and

sending to all the neighbors of Ni a trigger message T5 composed of Ni and its hop count;

if a difference between the hop count of the receiving node Ni and the hop count of the sending node Nk is equal to 2;

removing Nk from the neighborhood of Ni if Nk is in the neighborhood;

moving and adding all the nodes of the PT of node Ni into the DNT of node Ni, then moving all the nodes of the URT of Ni to the PT of Ni;

moving Nk into the URT of Ni;

resetting the hop count of Ni to the hop count of Nk augmented by 1; and

sending to all the neighbors of Ni a trigger message T5 composed of Ni and its hop count;

if a difference between the hop count of the receiving node Ni and the hop count of the sending node Nk is equal to 1;

if Nk is in the URT of Ni, ending the process; and

if Nk is not in the URT of Ni;

if Nk is in the neighborhood of Ni, removing Nk from the neighborhood of Ni;

adding Nk to the URT of Ni;

computing a trigger message T4 by performing a union of columns of the DRT of Ni and adding the node Ni with a hop count of zero; and

sending the trigger message T4 to all the nodes in the URT of Ni if Nk was in the DNT of Ni, otherwise sending the trigger message T4 to Nk only;

if a difference between the hop count of the sending node Nk and the hop count of the receiving node Ni is greater than or equal to 1;

if node Nk is in the DNT of node Ni, setting the hop count of node Nk to the hop count of Ni plus 1; and

if node Nk is not in the DNT of node N;

if Nk is in the Neighborhood of Ni, removing Nk from the neighborhood table of node Ni;

entering Nk into the DNT of Ni

setting the hop count of node Nk to the hop count of Ni plus 1;

if the URT of node Ni is empty, then moving the nodes in PT of Ni into URT; and

moving the nodes in DNT of Ni into PT;

if the URT of node Ni is not empty;

 

computing a trigger message T4 by performing the union of the columns of the DRT of Ni and adding node Ni with hop count zero; and

 

sending the trigger message T4 to all the nodes in the URT and at least one peer of node Ni;

setting the hop count of Ni to infinity if URT of Ni is empty;

sending a trigger message T5 (Ni and its hop count) to Nk;

if the hop count of the sending node Nk and the hop count of the receiving node Ni are equal;

if Nk is in the PT of Ni, ending the process; and

if Nk is not in the PT of Ni;

if Nk is in the Neighborhood of Ni, removing Nk out of the neighborhood of Ni;

entering node Nk into the PT of Ni;

setting the hop count of Nk to the hop count of Ni;

if the URT of node Ni is empty, then

moving the nodes in PT of Ni into URT, and

moving the nodes in DNT of node Ni into PT;

if URT of node Ni is empty, setting the hop count of Ni to infinity; and

if the URT of Ni is not empty, then;

Computing a trigger message T4 by performing the unions of the columns of the DRT of Ni and adding Ni with hop count zero;

Sending the trigger message T4 to all the nodes in the URT and at least one peer of Ni;

moving to process next signal.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein within determining if a difference between the hop count of the sending node Nk and the hop count of the receiving node Ni is greater than or equal to 1, wherein sending a trigger message T4 to all the nodes in the URT and at least one peer of Ni comprises sending a trigger message T4 to all the nodes in the URT and to all peers of Ni and further comprising a computation loop prevention system.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein within determining if the hop count of the sending node Nk and the hop count of the receiving node Ni are equal, wherein sending a trigger message T4 to all the nodes in the URT and at least one peer of Ni comprises sending a trigger message T4 to all the nodes in the URT and to all peers of Ni and further comprising a computation loop prevention system.

29. The method of claim 16, wherein receiving a packet by a receiving node Ni comprises receiving a packet by a node Ni that has multiple simultaneous associations with gateway nodes, thereby providing additional communication paths from every node Ni to gateway nodes, eliminating the need for active handover dialogue between node Ni and gateway nodes and preventing dropped communication lines.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein for each particular gateway node in the potential multiplicity of fixed gateways nodes, at every node Ni that can communicate with a fixed gateway node, the multiplicity of trigger messages generated with respect to any fixed gateway node Gj is processed independently of the multiplicity of trigger messages generated with respect to any other fixed gateway nodes Gk.

31. The method of claim 16, for comprising:

extracting from the packet a final destination address;

wherein if the final destination address is Ni, then halting further processing of the packet, and otherwise;

if the final destination address of the packet is not inside the Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network and Ni is a gateway node, then sending the packet to the final destination;

if the final destination address of the packet is not inside the Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network and Ni is not a gateway node, then sending the packet to a destination in a URTik of Ni towards gateway node Gk, and;

if there is a failure, then generate a trigger message U1k;

if the final destination address of the packet is inside the Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network and it is not in any DNTij or a DRTij of Ni, then;

if Ni is the gateway node, then halting further processing, and

if Ni is not the gateway node, sending the packet to a destination in a URTik of Ni towards gateway node Gk; and

if there is a failure, then generate a trigger message Ulk;

if the final destination address of the packet is inside the Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network and the final destination address is in a DNTij or in a DRTij of node Ni, then sending the packet to that destination and

if there is a failure, then generating a trigger message D1j, if the destination is in DNTij, or a trigger message D2j, if the destination is in DRTij.

32. An Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network, comprising:

a plurality of nodes communicatively through any number of intermediate nodes are capable of maintaining connectivity with each other when a gateway node is unavailable and are able to communicate upstream with at least one gateway node through any number of intermediate nodes;

wherein each of the nodes including transceivers;

each of the nodes further including, for each of the at least one gateway node, an upstream routing table (URT), a peer table (PT), a downstream neighborhood table (DNT), a peer downstream routing table (PDRT) of at least one peer node and a downstream routing table (DRT), each of the nodes being configured to use the associated tables to make routing decisions, some of the nodes being configured to act as a relay for other nodes that cannot directly access the at least one gateway node;

wherein the URT of a node Ni is updated independently by the node Ni and lists each upstream neighboring node that is closer by one hop, to a particular gateway node than is the node Ni, together with the hop count from the upstream neighboring node to the particular gateway;

wherein the PT of the node Ni is updated independently by the node Ni and lists each peer node, defined as a neighboring node that has equal distance, as measured by hop count, to a particular gateway node as the node Ni, together with an associated hop count to the particular gateway;

wherein the DNT of the node Ni is updated independently by the wireless node Ni and lists each neighboring downstream node that is one hope count further away from a particular gateway node than the node Ni, together with the hop count of the downstream neighboring node to the particular gateway node;

wherein the DRT of the node Ni is updated independently by the wireless node Ni and lists each downstream node Nk, as defined by a node that can communicate with the node Ni and is further away from the node Ni, as measured by hop counts of the nodes Ni and Nk to a particular gateway node, together with the hop count of the downstream node Nk to the node Ni;

wherein each node periodically broadcasts a trigger message that comprises a node identification and hop count corresponding to a particular node to inform neighboring nodes that the particular node is present;

wherein each node independently and periodically receives and processes control signals from neighboring nodes;

wherein each node independently and periodically receives and processes control signals from the at least one peer node, including updated PDRT tables; and

wherein each node updates the tables within itself and each node communicates changes to neighboring nodes.

33. The Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network of claim 32, wherein the node includes a peer downstream routing table (PDRT) of for each peer node regardless of hop count and further comprising a computation loop prevention system.

34. An Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network, comprising:

a plurality of nodes communicatively accessible through any number of intermediate nodes, are capable of maintaining connectivity with each other when a gateway node is unavailable and are able to communicate upstream with at least one gateway node through any number of intermediate nodes, each of the nodes including transceivers, each of the nodes further including, for each of the at least one gateway node, an upstream routing table (URT), a peer table (PT), a downstream neighborhood table (DNT) and a downstream routing table (DRT), each of the nodes being configured to use the associated tables to make routing decisions, some of the nodes being nodes, some of the nodes being configured to act as a relay for other nodes that cannot directly access the at least one gateway node;

wherein the URT of a node Ni is updated independently by the node Ni and lists each upstream neighboring node that is closer by one hop, to a particular gateway node than is the node Ni, together with the hop count from the upstream neighboring node to the particular gateway;

wherein the PT of the node Ni is updated independently by the node Ni and lists each peer node, defined as a neighboring node that has equal distance, as measured by hop count, to a particular gateway node as the node Ni, together with an associated hop count to the particular gateway;

wherein the DNT of the node Ni is updated independently by the node Ni and lists each neighboring downstream node that is one hope count further away from a particular gateway node than the node Ni, together with the hop count of the downstream neighboring node to the particular gateway node;

wherein the DRT of the node Ni is updated independently by the node Ni and lists each downstream node Nk, as defined by a node that can communicate with the node Ni and is further away from the node Ni, as measured by hop counts of the nodes Ni and Nk to a particular gateway node, together with the hop count of the downstream node Nk to the node Ni;

wherein each node periodically broadcasts a trigger message that comprises a node identification and hop count corresponding to a particular node to inform neighboring nodes that the particular node is present;

wherein each node independently and periodically receives and processes control signals from neighboring nodes;

wherein each node updates the tables within itself and each node communicates changes to neighboring nodes; and

an unacceptable links management system that is configured to silence links that are determined to be unacceptable;

to return links to service that have been silenced if the links become acceptable or, if the links have been silenced longer than a threshold time period, the links are moved to an out of service list;

wherein the unacceptable links management system is configured to periodically audit the out of service list to identify links that have service metrics greater than a threshold and returning those links to service; and

wherein the unacceptable links management system is configured to cancel links that remain below the threshold for more than a particular period of time.

35. The internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network of claim 34, wherein the unacceptable links management system is configured to silence links that are determined to be unacceptable in the URT, DNT, and PT, conduct an audit for silenced links listed in the URT greater than a maximum time period, conduct an audit for silenced links listed in the DNT greater than a maximum time period, and conduct an audit for silenced links listed in the PT greater than a maximum time period.

36. The Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network of claim 34, wherein at least a portion of the audits occur in T5 signal processing in which each node periodically broadcasts its node ID and hop count to inform neighboring nodes of its presence.

37. The Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network of claim 36, wherein the unacceptable links management system modifies T5 signal processing to silence unacceptable links by determining whether a link in question is listed in an out of service list;

if the link in question is listed in the out of service list, then determining whether a service metric of the link in question is greater than a high threshold for that service metric;

if the link in question is greater than a high threshold for that service metric, increasing a high signal counter to determine signal quality;

if the high signal counter is greater than a maximum count, then removing the link in question from the out of service list and processing the link according to T5 processing in which the link periodically broadcasts its node ID and hop count to inform neighboring nodes of its presence;

if the high signal counter is less than or equal to a maximum count, then the link in question is not consistently strong and the link in question remains listed in the out of service list;

if the link in question is less than or equal to a high threshold for that service metric, resetting a high signal counter because the link in question remains too weak;

if the link in question is not listed in the out of service list, then determining whether the service metric is greater than a low threshold for the service metric;

if the service metric of the link in question is less than the low threshold for the service metric, then a T5 signal for that link in question is ignored;

if the service metric of the link in question is greater than the low threshold for the service metric, then a T5 signal for that link in question is processed.

38. The Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network of claim 37, wherein lower quality links are accepted by lowering the values corresponding to the thresholds for the maximum count for the high signal counter and for the high and low thresholds for the service metric.

39. The Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network of claim 38, wherein lower quality links are accepted if no other active links exist from node Ni, active links from node Ni are overloaded, and remote links between Ni and a base station are overloaded.

40. The Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network of claim 34, wherein at least a portion of the audits occur in T4 signal processing in which changes in downstream connectivity propagate to upstream nodes to update DRTs of those upstream nodes and as concerning a particular T4 signal, if the T4 signal is received from a link listed on an out of service list, then signal is canceled, otherwise the T4 signal is processed.

41. The Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network of claim 34, wherein the unacceptable links management system that is configured to silence links that are determined to be unacceptable in the URT, DNT, and PT by modifying T5 signal processing in which each node periodically broadcasts its node ID and hop count to inform neighboring nodes of its presence.

42. The Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network of claim 34, wherein the unacceptable links management system that is configured to silence links that are determined to be unacceptable in the URT, DNT, and PT by modifying T4 signal processing in which changes in downstream connectivity propagate to upstream nodes to update DRTs of those upstream nodes.

43. The Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network of claim 34, wherein modifications to nodes caused by the unacceptable links management system creates changes in at least one of the URT, PT, DRT and DNT.

44. The Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network of claim 34, wherein the audit for silenced links comprises a periodic audit for silenced links listed in the URTi greater than a maximum time period comprising:

determining whether Nk has been silent for a time period greater than a threshold time period;

if yes, then remove Nk from URTi and list Nk in the out of service list;

determining whether the URTi is empty;

if yes, then, recompute NTi, move PT into URTi, move DNTi into PT, recompute hop counts, and DNTi/DRT are empty;

determining whether URTi is empty;

 

if yes, then set HCl of Ni to infinity and return to beginning of audit protocol;

 

if no, then DCi equals a union of columns of DRTi+{Ni,0} and send the DCi to upstream neighbors and to at least one peer;

if no, then return to beginning of audit protocol;

if no, then return to beginning of audit protocol.

45. The Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network of claim 44, wherein DCi is sent to all peers and further comprising a computation loop prevention system.

46. The Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network of claim 34, wherein the audit for silenced links comprises a periodic audit for silenced links listed in the DNTi greater than a maximum time period comprising:

determining whether Nk has been silent for a time period greater than a threshold time period;

if yes, then remove Nk from DNTi, list Nk in the out of service list, update DRTi, DCi equals a union of columns of DRTi+{Ni,0} and send DCi to upstream neighbors and to at least one peer;

if no, then return to beginning of audit protocol.

47. The Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network of claim 46, wherein DCi is sent to all peers and further comprising a computation loop prevention system.

48. The Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network of claim 34, wherein the audit for silenced links comprises a periodic audit for silenced links listed in the PTi greater than a maximum time period comprising:

determining whether Nk has been silent for a time period greater than a threshold time period;

if yes, then remove Nk from PTi, list Nk in the out of service list, DCi equals a union of columns of DRTi+{Ni,0} and send DCi to upstream neighbors;

if no, then return to beginning of audit protocol.

49. The Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network of claim 34, wherein the audit to determine if the links have been silenced longer than a threshold time period, the links are moved to an out of service list comprises auditing every entry in the out of service list.

50. A communication device configured for use in an Internet-oriented mobile ad-hoc network, comprising:

a node Ni configured to survive in an isolated condition; and

wherein the node Ni is configured to be communicatively accessible through any number of intermediate nodes, to maintain connectivity with other nodes when a gateway node is unavailable and to communicate with the other nodes, wherein the node includes a transceiver, an upstream routing table (URT), a peer table (PT), a downstream neighborhood table (DNT) and a downstream routing table (DRT),

wherein the node Ni periodically broadcasts a trigger message that comprises a node identification and hop count equivalent to infinity to inform neighboring nodes that the particular node is present;

wherein the node Ni independently and periodically receives and processes control signals from neighboring nodes; and

wherein the node Ni updates the tables within itself and the node Ni communicates changes to neighboring nodes.