Leader election algorithm for mobile ad hoc networks

A mobile ad hoc network is a dynamic network with a set of peer-to-peer nodes that communicate with each other through wireless channels. Since a mobile ad hoc network is a distributed network with no fixed structure, proposing a leader election algorithm is quite a challenging task. A leader election algorithm is proposed for distributed mobile ad hoc networks where communication is allowed only among the neighboring nodes. Since a mobile ad hoc network is a peer-to-peer distributed system, a distributed algorithm needs to be developed for electing a leader. It is essential that the algorithm uses least amount of wireless resources and does not affect the movement of the nodes. Our main aim was to prove that a leader gets elected under different scenarios and confirms the existence of only a single leader at all times. We proposed two algorithms, one for a single topology change after which the network gets stabilized and the other for concurrent multiple topological changes where a new change occurs before the network gets stabilized by the previous topology change. The simulation for the algorithm is done in NS2 (Network Simulator) and the performance evaluation ensures the validity of the proposed scheme.