For the use in the Internet domain, distributed hash tables (DHTs) have proven to be an efficient and scalable approach to distributed content storage and access. In this paper, we explore how DHTs and mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) fit together. We argue that both share key characteristics in terms of self organization, decentralization, redundancy requirements, and limited infrastructure. However, node mobility and the continually changing physical topology pose a special challenge to scalability and the design of a DHT for mobile ad-hoc networks.

In this paper, we show that with some local knowledge we can build a scalable and mobile structured peer-to-peer network, called Mobile Hash Table (MHT). Furthermore, we argue that with little global knowledge, such as a map of the city or whatever area the nodes move in, one can even further improve the scalability and reduce DHT maintenance overhead significantly, allowing MHT to scale up to several ten thousands of nodes.