Patent ID: 8578015

Claim:
A method for tracking traffic in a mobile ad hoc network comprising a plurality of wireless mobile nodes and a plurality of wireless communication links connecting the plurality of nodes together, the method comprising: at each node, monitoring traffic communicated between nodes throughout the network on a first channel; at each node, generating monitored-traffic information based upon how much monitored-traffic is being communicated between various nodes throughout the network and including calculating quality-of-service (QoS) tag values based upon at least one node specific QoS metric and a QoS parameter of traffic information; at each node, determining whether a node can support a requested QoS parameter and admit traffic; at each node, scouting one or more other available separate channels at different frequencies when the QoS tag values on the first channel fall below a QoS threshold and switching to a second separate channel at a different frequency if QoS tag values on the second separate channel are above the QoS threshold; at each node, storing the monitored-traffic information in a traffic database; at each node, processing the monitored-traffic information stored in the traffic database to select one of a reactive, proactive and hybrid route discovery process; and at each node, discovering traffic routes with the selected route discovery process, each traffic route comprising a combination of wireless communication links.