Abstract
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems and Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) have been the subject of intensive studies in recent years. These two areas have, however, developed independently from each other so there is not sufficient data to verify whether the P2P distribution paradigm, specifically real-time streaming, would work on MANETs. This article reports our initial findings, based on the simulation of mesh-based P2P streaming over a popular MANET protocol. We analyze the effects that node density, node number, and node speed have on three factors bearing a crucial impact on the quality of experience in real-time streaming, i.e. packet loss, end-to-end delay, and routing signalling overheads. We find that highly-dense MANETs would be able to sustain P2P streams if it wasn't for the excessive level of packet loss. Signalling overheads are well below the acceptability threshold recommended in ordinary management systems (i.e. 5%).