A mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a multi-hop wireless network which is capable of autonomous operation. The topology is dynamic, leading to frequent and unpredictable connectivity changes. Currently, in most ad hoc networks, the network related information of a node (such as its IP address, netmask, etc.) is configured statically. However, nodes can enter and leave the network at any time. It is realistic to assume that at any given time, only a subset of nodes will be active in the network. Hence, the static configuration of nodes is wasteful of IP address space, does not scale well, and is not an elegant solution. Conventional dynamic configuration protocols like DHCP cannot be used due to the unavailability of any centralized servers. In this paper, we present a token-based dynamic address allocation protocol, tailored to configure nodes in a MANET.
