HYWINMARC: An Autonomic Management Architecture for Hybrid Wireless Networks

The envisioned realization of ubiquity has resulted into the emergence of new kinds of the hybrid networks. The modern hybrid networks, e.g. combination of wireless mesh and Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs), help realize ubiquity through spontaneous networking. The network management for these hybrid networks is different from conventional and infrastructure based network management. Heterogeneity, mobility, dynamic topologies, physical security, and survivability make the challenge hard. A new class of management called self-management can effectively be used to cater for the autonomous behavior of hybrid networks. We present HYbrid WIreless Network Management ARChitecture (HYWINMARC), a three-tier framework, covering all the management levels, for autonomic network management for hybrid networks. We integrate policy-based network management with mobile-agent technology and design a prototype for a context-aware and self-managing architecture. The context information is collected, from all levels in network hierarchy through monitoring agents, and is used to apply needed self-management operations that include self-optimization, self-healing, self-configuration, and self-growing.