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End-user computing is a compilation of approaches to computing that allows end-users to better control their mobile computing environment without the aid of real programmers or developers. These approaches (i.e., computer systems and platforms/architectures) can integrate end-users into their mobile computing environment. Such an approach is the Named Data Networking (NDN) architecture for a mobile computing environment that involves mobile software, hardware, and mobile communication. Mobile software deals with the characteristics and requirements of mobile applications, while mobile hardware includes mobile devices or device components. Mobile communication is often based on mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) and involves specific protocols and intelligent technologies. A MANET is a wireless ad hoc network that is deployed mostly in emergencies like a battlefield and natural disasters as its nodes can communicate with each other without any infrastructure. A MANET is made up of autonomous radio nodes, which form a dynamic, multi-hop radio network in a decentralized way (Sarkar et al., 2013). Nodes themselves cooperatively implement network management. Such cooperation requires detecting routes and forwarding data packets. A MANET relies on the multi-hop type of routing for the data transmission because the destination node is often out of the radio-range of the source node, and some nodes can act as a router to forward data (Kanellopoulos, 2017). In a MANET, each node is a relay for routing content. The intermediate node that becomes the network relay often experiences network traffic overloading. When the intermediate node cannot accommodate the amount of network load that exceeds its capacity, then network congestion occurs (Rath et al., 2017). In such a situation, a congestion control protocol must achieve fairness in network traffic and the efficiency of bandwidth usage. MANETs have the following characteristics (Kanellopoulos, 2019):
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Problems related to hidden and exposed terminals.
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Constraints on resources: MANET devices work with limited CPU processing capabilities, limited battery life, inadequate bandwidth support, limited storage, etc.
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Error-prone shared broadcast channel: The wireless links have a higher error rate, fading, signal interference etc., while the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer algorithm tries to control access to the shared broadcast channel.
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Nodes mobility: Nodes are roaming and can only interact with their direct neighbour nodes. The dynamic nature of a MANET results in frequent changing network topology and link breaks. This makes routing more difficult because of the frequent route change/route break leading to loss of connectivity. The routes are updated frequently as the network topology is constantly changing, and this results in an increase in the network traffic.
The characteristics of MANETs (i.e., high channel error rate, severe link-layer contentions, frequent link breakage, and dissimilar path quality-of-service (QoS) properties) seriously interfere with communication. Therefore, these characteristics ultimately degrade the overall performance of MANETs in terms of end‐to‐end delay, packet delivery ratio, network throughput, and network overhead. Moreover, these characteristics present various challenges in the design of the routing and congestion control protocols and complicate QoS provision. Apart from fairness in network traffic and efficiency of bandwidth usage, congestion control for MANETs requires additional demands because network congestion is not only due to network traffic, but it can also be due to other factors such as node mobility, wireless signal noise, interference, and contention. Additionally, a congestion control protocol for MANETs must be energy efficient and must reduce packet loss retransmission as much as possible to reduce energy wastage on each node (Kanellopoulos & Sharma, 2020).