In computer networks, names and addresses are used to identify nodes and establish connections. Self-organized mobile networks are composed of nodes which change over time. Even when dynamic naming mechanisms can be used, the need for the users to keep track of the identifiers can easily become an unbearable burden. A possible solution to this issue is to further raise the abstraction level and shift the focus from the nodes to the services they provide. Service discovery offers support to this view by enabling simple browsing and location of services available in the network and can furthermore offer support to the creation and advertisement of user communities. Although solutions exist for ad-hoc networks, the combination of mobility, organization and configuration issues in wireless mesh networks render current solutions inappropriate.

This thesis discusses the main issues in designing a suitable protocol and proposes a service discovery architecture tailored for wireless mesh and ad-hoc networks. Experimental results, complemented with simulation, validate the protocol, showing improved latency and low traffic generation when comparing with the protocol used as a base (mSLP), such as the periodic traffic overhead, which is, at least, 6% smaller and grows, with each announced service, 87% slower.