System and method for controlling communications in an ad hoc mobile network

A system for controlling communications within an ad hoc mobile network including a plurality of terminals, comprising:

• each of said terminals including at least one radio antenna, an ad hoc mobile communication system suitable for sending and receiving data, a network description database which contains at least the address of all the terminals of the network and the list of the communities of interest which group all the terminals likely to have to communicate with one another, said terminals additionally including a slave orchestration system;
• at least one of said terminals also including the master function, said master terminals also including a master orchestration system;
• said slave orchestration system including at least one network test module, a module for controlling communications, a database of communications to be set up and an administration module;
• said master orchestration system including at least one network test module, a module for controlling communications, a database of communication requirements, a decision engine, a database of current communications, a rule database for prioritizing communications and an administration module;
• and
• said master orchestration system being suitable for defining which communications between the slave terminals are authorized according to said prioritization rules and for notifying the slave orchestration systems of the slave terminals of their authorization to set up a communication or of the need to interrupt a communication previously set up, said prioritization rules being established according to at least one of the following criteria:
• criticality of the communication, maximum duration Dmax of the communication, maximum number of terminals that can send simultaneously, available bandwidth,
• wherein said network test module is suitable for executing, at a given instant, a test step comprising at least:
• breaking down said community of interest into a number of test groups that is at least equal to one, each of said test groups comprising at most a number of terminals equal to the maximum number of terminals authorized to communicate simultaneously, the intersection between all the test groups being not empty;
• sending from the master terminal to all the slave terminals of said test group a test request message containing a sample of the service to be tested and a time delay value Ttemp;
• sending from each slave terminal, upon receipt of said test request message, said test sample to all the terminals of the community of interest;
• sending from each slave terminal of said test group, upon receipt of a test sample, an acknowledgement message to the slave terminal sending said test sample;
• and
• sending from each slave terminal of said test group to the master terminal, before the expiry of the time delay Ttemp, a test resort containing the list of the terminals receiving the test sample for which no acknowledgement has been received.