Management of Wireless Ad Hoc Networks and Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

A real revolution is taking place in wireless networking. With fundamentally different architectures and services, Wireless Ad hoc networks (WAHNs) and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are two leaders in this revolution. These networks will be the enablers for ubiquitous computing and communications. These new networks will be autonomously formed and will include large numbers of nodes (PDAs, laptops, sensors, etc.) with varying functionalities and power levels. Given that WSNs and WAHNs will be dominant networks in not so distant future, what are the challenges for managing these complex and dynamic environments? This special issue includes articles describing the results of the latest work in management of WSNs and WAHNs. In this article, we first provide a brief overview of WAHNs and WSNs. Then we discuss the challenges introduced by these networks, and finally we introduce the papers selected for this special issue.