Attack Injection for Performance and Dependability Assessment of Ad hoc Networks

Ad hoc networks are wireless, self-configuring and selfmaintaining networks that allow dispensing of fixed infrastructures by relying on nodes cooperation for providing packet routing. Their confident use claims for the existence of methodologies for assessing their performance and dependability attributes in the presence of malicious faults. Most of the work deployed in this domain has been based on simulation, thus obviating aspects influencing the behavior of real ad hoc networks, like interferences. This paper reports a preliminary research carried out with the purpose of providing an experimental approach for deriving performance and dependability measures from real ad hoc networks. The goal is to show the feasibility of the technique, while providing a taste of the type of measures and conclusions that can be derived from the supported experimentation. This research constitutes a first step towards a more ambitious objective, the provision of a dependability and performance benchmarking approach for ad hoc networks.