What is an Ad Hoc Network?
Ad Hoc networks are PC-to-PC wireless networks. This is different to the wireless connection such as provided by ANU-Access. ANU-Access used dedicated wireless access points (WAPs) to send and receive data over the wireless medium. This is called Infrastructure-mode wireless as network connections are made via the network infrastructure, i.e. the WAPs. In Ad Hoc-mode wireless, there is no dedicated WAP. A PC or laptop acts as both a WAP and a client, and can send and receive wireless data from other Ad Hoc clients directly.
Since the inception of wireless networking there have been two types of wireless networks: the infrastructure network, including some local area networks (LANs), and the ad hoc network. Ad hoc is Latin meaning “for this purpose.” Ad hoc networks therefore refer to networks created for a particular purpose. They are often created on-the-fly and for one-time or temporary use. Often, ad hoc networks are comprised of a group of workstations or other wireless devices which communicate directly with each other to exchange information. Think of these connections as spontaneous networks, available to whomever is in a given area. An ad hoc network is one where there are no access points passing information between participants. Infrastructure networks pass information through a central information hub which can be a hardware device or software on a computer. Office networks, for example, generally use a server to which company workstations connect to receive their information. Ad hoc networks,
