[manet] MANET Internetworking: Problem Statement and Gap Ana lysis

See below for a new draft motivated by recent discussions on the MANET mailing list
and charter discussions at the IETF 123 MANET working group session. The draft
identifies two distinct types of MANETs:

1) True stub MANETS - those for which an Internet connection sharing node acts
as a regular IP router on behalf of a downstream-attached personal local network
consisting of end systems that can provide internal multihop forwarding services
within the local area. An example is a cellphone with an attached 802.11 network
operating in "ad-hoc" mode where some nodes may be separated by multiple WiFi
hops. Such MANETs are likely to include a small-to-modest number of nodes in a
common MANET routing protocol instance, and the local MANET nodes should be
able to use (pseudo)random addresses taken from a suitably large address
assignment space with little/no risk of collision.

2) Not-so-stubby MANETs - those for which one or more Internet connection sharing
nodes act as proxys at a layer below IP on behalf of peer nodes that may be multiple
hops away from the nearest Internet infrastructure element. An example is a disaster
relief team that enters an area of degraded infrastructure and where each person's
cellphone supports device-to-device multihopping over the 5G/6G interface itself
while providing Internet connection sharing services based on opportunistic
infrastructure contacts. Again, such MANETs are likely to include a small-to-modest
number of nodes engaged in a common MANET routing protocol instance.

From an Internetworking standpoint, however, each cellphone that connects
to the Internet should be considered as a potential MANET router where the
Internet itself becomes a "MANET-of-MANETs". The MANET Internetworking
service should then support interconnection of MANETs using the Internet as
transit based on virtual circuits established on-demand as an adaptation
layer function.

So, the Internet would serve as a massive transit network for connecting
small-to-modest sized MANETs on demand. With billions of MANET routers
in the Internet, this means that the likelihood for address collision becomes
non-negligible as demand-driven MANET--to-MANET virtual circuits are
established and dissolved. This means that MANETs that opportunistically
connect to the Internet require some form of administratively-assigned
adaptation layer address - the Multilink Local Address (MLA).

So, the concern is not for massively-large MANETs that operate in a
common routing protocol instance - that never was and never will be
a practical environment for MANET routing protocols. The concern is
for vast numbers of small to modest-sized MANETs that interconnect
using the Internet as transit where there are no constraints on the
nature of MANET-to-MANET interconnection events.

I realize this is a lot in one mail message, but your consideration of the
draft with this high-level overview in mind is welcome.

Thank you - Fred

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> 
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2025 1:30 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject:  I-D Action: draft-templin-manet-inet-00.txt

Internet-Draft draft-templin-manet-inet-00.txt is now available.

   Title:   MANET Internetworking: Problem Statement and Gap Analysis
   Authors: Fred L. Templin
            Daniel J. Jakubisin
   Name:    draft-templin-manet-inet-00.txt
   Pages:   10
   Dates:   2025-08-27

Abstract:

   [RFC2501] defines a MANET as "an autonomous system of mobile nodes.
   The system may operate in isolation, or may have gateways to and
   interface with a fixed network" (such as the global public Internet).
   This document presents a MANET Internetworking problem statement and
   gap analysis.

The IETF datatracker status page for this Internet-Draft is:
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-templin-manet-inet/

There is also an HTMLized version available at:
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-templin-manet-inet-00

Internet-Drafts are also available by rsync at:
rsync.ietf.org::internet-drafts


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