In the network computing domain, mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) have gained prominence during the recent years. These networks have been used in almost all domains of today’s life; especially in military and emergency operations. However, these application areas demand higher performance. It has been observed that better performance can’t be achieved without improved network management and the detailed network performance awareness. In this direction, this research work investigates the behavior of mobile ad hoc network under two transport protocols ie Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP). The work analyzes various parameters such as bandwidth, throughput, jitter and out of order delivery etc. A test-bed has been established in university campus and the data transferred over the network is analyzed using iperf performance monitoring tool.

There are two types of wireless networks [1, 2]. At one end, the wireless network can be established with the help of centralized entities called access points. The nodes communicate with each other via these access points. In the second category of wireless network ie wireless ad hoc network, the nodes discover and communicate with each other in peer to peer fashion without the help of any dedicated entity. In ad hoc network the nodes simultaneously work as a host as well as a router. The nodes are responsible themselves for different network operations. Sometimes ad hoc network can include fixed infrastructure as well. Such networks are called wireless mesh network (WMN). In WMN, there are stable nodes connected with each other in mesh fashions called as mesh routers. There are mesh clients that connect with mesh routers for communication purposes.