Wireless ad hoc network

A wireless ad hoc network is a decentralized wireless network.[1] The network is ad hoc because it does not rely on a preexisting infrastructure, such as routers in wired networks or access points in managed (infrastructure) wireless networks. Instead, each node participates in routing by forwarding data for other nodes, and so the determination of which nodes forward data is made dynamically based on the network connectivity.

Application
The decentralized nature of wireless ad hoc networks makes them suitable for a variety of applications where central nodes can't be relied on, and may improve the scalability of wireless ad hoc networks compared to wireless managed networks, though theoretical and practical limits to the overall capacity of such networks have been identified.

Minimal configuration and quick deployment make ad hoc networks suitable for emergency situations like natural disasters or military conflicts. The presence of a dynamic and adaptive routing protocol will enable ad hoc networks to be formed quickly.

Medium Access Control
In most wireless ad hoc networks the nodes compete to access the shared wireless medium, often resulting in collisions. Using cooperative wireless communications improves immunity to interference by having the destination node combine self-interference and other-node interference to improve decoding of the desired signal.