Hi Hagen,
o Where are the advantages of BATMAN compared to OLSR? OLSR is standardized by the IETF which is a great advantage compared to BATMAN. 20 byte IPv4 header respective 60 byte IPv6 header savings? Network protocol neutrality? Where are the differences between BATMAN and 802.11s? Where are the similarities? See commit 37c5798968d0ce4 of 802.11s
the OLSR as standardized by the IETF is known to be flawed when used outside of a simulator (even the IETF Manet people know this - I spoke with one of them). We have assembled a few documents explaining some of its weaknesses on our website (www.open-mesh.org) but I suggest you get in touch with the folks of www.olsr.org. They can go into the details of why they don't follow the RFC.
The B.A.T.M.A.N. kernel module implementation operates on layer 2.5 and as such, is not limited to wifi networks (opposed to 802.11s) but can run on any interface supporting ethernet frames. The project has its roots in the free wireless network scene (specially Freifunk) and is used by many communities and companies around the globe.
o Are there any publications which describe the protocol behavior in detail? I assume it is a pro-active protocol - similar to standard BATMAN
- but what about neighbor discovery, TC, HNA and the like? What about
multicast transport? It is difficult to rate the patchset if no one knowns what the intended behavior is.
Yes, it is a pro-active protocol and we have a set of documentation about it. Please check our website and feel free to ask if you have more questions.
Regards, Marek