Providing communication services in networks of mobile nodes without the fixed supporting infrastructure as in mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) is challenging. In addition to being highly dynamic, the mobile networks are becoming heterogeneous as they interconnect different types of equipment and users having very different communication requirements as they utilize wide range of networked applications. The innovative idea is to exploit the geographical proximity of nodes in these networks in order to improve provisioning of communication services, and to gain understanding of the fundamental performance limitations. The traditional protocol design in MANETs assumes statistically average communication channels to create multi-layer network topology and to establish the routing paths between nodes in the network. As the cost and energy consumption of global satellite communication system (GNSS) receivers have been steadily decreasing, the mobile nodes in future MANETs are likely to be aware of their precise geospatial location most of the time. Alternatively, the nodes may determine their locations relative to other nodes using a number of established wireless localization techniques. The location information can be shared in various ways with other nodes in the network. This information may be then used to enhance communication protocols involving multiple access, clusters and topology creation, route discovery and maintenance, failure recovery, admission control and scheduling to prioritize critical traffic, radio resource management to control link utilization, radio frequency interference and battery lifetime, and to provide performance guarantees for a wide range of applications. More generally, the use of location information in wireless networks transforms time-dependent protocol design into the space-time protocol design. For instance, the dynamic spectrum allocation can utilize spatio-temporal patterns.
The aim of this tutorial is to survey the techniques for real-time localization of nodes in MANETs, approaches to efficient mobility modeling in MANETs, and how to utilize the location information to enable location-aware policies and location-adaptive protocols. We will compare methods of obtaining location information, and how such information can be efficiently and securely distributed throughout the network together with other network measurements which are used by traditional network protocols in MANETs. We will emphasize realistic modeling involving spectrum and battery limitations, stringent requirements on security and the end-to-end quality-of-service in mission critical scenarios, challenging propagation conditions and the mobility patterns observed in the real-world networks. The existing protocols and network management policies exploiting location information will be reviewed. We will also identify protocols where location information has not yet been exploited, even though it may improve the network performance or management. The MANETs considered in this tutorial are assumed to consists of both the terrestrial network of ground vehicles as well as the network of aerial vehicles.