Comparison of Application and Network Layer Name Resolution in Mobile Ad hoc Networks

In disaster scenarios, communication systems usually consist of heterogeneous nodes and partially damaged infrastructure. Communication is important for rescue teams and victims as well but a serious problem because normal network systems like wired or mobile radio Internet could be unreliable or simply not available. To deal with these problems, much effort has been spent on Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) and their specialties. Those networks are usually unsteady and highly mobile. Therefore, classical network services like the resolution of names to their corresponding local IP addresses is a big challenge. In this paper, we will compare different MANET-adapted name resolution approaches located in the Application and Network Layer by simulations using the Network Simulator 3 ( ns-3 ) and discuss their performance and fields of application.