APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETECTING DUPLICATE IP ADDRESSES IN MOBILE AD HOC NETWORK ENVIRONMENT

An apparatus and method operable to detect duplicate IP addresses in a mobile ad hoc network environment. A network apparatus operable to detect duplicate IP addresses in a mobile ad hoc network environment consistent with the present invention includes a database operable to store device information on each terminal and an IP address corresponding to the device information, an IP address duplicate detector operable to create an identifier for use in identifying a mobile ad hoc network based on the device information and the IP address and for processing a given packet for detecting duplicate IP addresses, and a packet transmitter/receiver operable to transmit/receive a Hello packet containing the identifier or the given packet for detecting duplicate IP addresses.