P2p systems provide an effective framework to realize decentralized and scalable data sharing among large sets of users. Furthermore the decentralized and peer-to-peer computing model is suitable for mobile ad hoc networks. However, in the project, using both simulation and experimentation, we showed that two well-known platforms, like Gnutella (un-structured) and Pastry (structured) exhibit poor performance in ad hoc environments due to low tolerance to dynamics such as nodes mobility.

To cope with these performance problems, we designed cross-layer versions of Pastry and Gnutella. The cross-layer version of Pastry (CrossROAD) and Gnutella (XL-Gnutella) exploit cross-layer interactions between a proactive routing protocol (OLSR) and the middleware platform mediated via the Network Status (NeSt).

Extensive performance evaluation studies (either via simulation or measurements) have shown that our cross-layer solutions provide significant performance gains when a middleware platform is implemented on top of an ad hoc network. More precisely cross-layer solutions are more adaptive and tolerant to ad hoc network dynamics such as nodes mobility and wireless link instabilities.