Virtual Private Ad Hoc Networking

The fact that a lot of applications require secure communication to take place only between a dynamic subset of distributed devices sharing a common context, is, from a network point of view, very challenging and demanding. Existing technologies such as VPN, P2P overlays or VLANs can only partially respond to these requirements. This observation is the key factor that has driven the proposal of the virtual private ad hoc network concept. Virtual private ad hoc networks (VPAN) are secure and self-organizing overlay networks on top of existing IP infrastructure that use ad hoc networking techniques to enable network connectivity. The underlying IP infrastructure can be the Internet, cellular networks, ad hoc networks, mesh networks … or combinations thereof. A virtual private ad hoc overlay network creates a transparent, shielded and trusted environment for the applications and services running on the participants' devices. The overlay uses internal addressing and ad hoc routing, thereby forming a virtual network on top of the physical infrastructure. In addition, the overlay must be self-organizing and self-maintaining upon member mobility or membership changes. This paper gives an overview of the potential applications, a high-level network architecture and the network challenges emerging from the novel concept of virtual private ad hoc networking. Jeroen Hoebeke was born in Ghent, Belgium in 1979. In 2002 he received the Masters degree in engineering (Computer Science) from the University of Ghent. In August 2002, he joined the Broadband Communications Networks Group. His PhD research includes the development of adaptive routing protocol techniques for mobile ad hoc networks. His main research interests are in ad hoc wireless communications and, more generally, in broadband wireless communications. Within the European MAGNET project, he is actively involved in the development of a network architecture and demonstrator for Personal Networks, with a prime focus on routing and connectivity. Gerry Holderbeke was born in Zottegem, Belgium in 1982. He graduated in Informatics at the University of Ghent in 2004. In August 2004 he joined the Broadband Communications Networks Group where he is currently working as a project developer. His research currently includes the development of an emulator for mobile ad hoc networks. His main research interests are in ad hoc networks and broadband wireless communications and involve routing, addressing and more generally, communication within mobile ad hoc networks and infrastructured networks. Within the European MAGNET project, he is actively involved in the development of a network architecture for Personal Networks, with a prime focus on the implementation of the routing architecture. Ingrid Moerman was born in Gent, Belgium in 1965. She received the degree in Electro-technical Engineering and the Ph.D degree from the Ghent University, Gent, Belgium in 1987 and 1992, respectively. Since 1987, she has been with the Interuniversity Micro-Electronics Centre (IMEC) at the Department of Information Technology (INTEC) of the Ghent University, where she conducted research in the field of optoelectronics. In 1997, she became a permanent member of the Research Staff at IMEC. Since 2000 she is part-time professor at the Ghent University. Since 2001 she has switched her research domain to broadband communication networks. She is currently involved in the research and education on broadband mobile & wireless communication networks and on multimedia over IP. The main research topics related to mobile & wireless communication networks are: wireless access to vehicles (high bandwidth & driving speed), adaptive QoS routing in wireless ad hoc networks, body area networks, protocol boosting on wireless links, design of fixed access/metro part, traffic engineering and QoS support in the wireless access network. Ingrid Moerman is author or co-author of more than 300 publications in the field of optoelectronics and communication networks. Bart Dhoedt received a degree in Engineering from the Ghent University in 1990. In September 1990, he joined the Department of Information Technology of the Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Ghent. His research, addressing the use of micro-optics to realize parallel free space optical interconnects, resulted in a PhD degree in 1995. After a 2 year post-doc in opto-electronics, he became professor at the Faculty of Applied Sciences, Department of Information Technology. Since then, he is responsible for several courses on algorithms, programming and software development. His research interests are software engineering and mobile & wireless communications. Bart Dhoedt is author or co-author of approximately 70 papers published in international journals or in the proceedings of international conferences. His current research addresses software technologies for communication networks, peer-to-peer networks, mobile networks and active networks. Piet Demeester received the Masters degree in Electro-technical engineering and the Ph.D degree from the Ghent University, Gent, Belgium in 1984 and 1988, respectively. In 1992 he started a new research activity on broadband communication networks resulting in the IBCN-group (INTEC Broadband communications network research group). Since 1993 he became professor at the Ghent University where he is responsible for the research and education on communication networks. The research activities cover various communication networks (IP, ATM, SDH, WDM, access, active, mobile), including network planning, network and service management, telecom software, internetworking, network protocols for QoS support, etc. Piet Demeester is author of more than 300 publications in the area of network design, optimization and management. He is member of the editorial board of several international journals and has been member of several technical program committees (ECOC, OFC, DRCN, ICCCN, IZS, &).