ROUTING PROTOCOLS FOR AD HOC WIRELESS LANS

ROUTING PROTOCOLS FOR AD HOC WIRELESS LANS

ABSTRACT

The idea of forming an ad hoc on-the-fly network of mobile devices opens up an exciting new world of possibilities. Because ad-hoc networks do not need any pre-existing infrastructure, they can solve many interesting problems of spontaneous link establishment, i.e. communication on the fly. In this case, ad-hoc networks have a clear advantage over the classic, wire-bound connections.

An ad-hoc mobile network is a collection of mobile nodes that are dynamically and arbitrarily located in such a manner that the interconnections between nodes are capable of changing on a continual basis. In order to facilitate communication within the network, a routing protocol is used to discover routes between nodes. The primary goal of such an ad-hoc network routing protocol is correct and efficient route establishment between a pair of nodes so that messages may be delivered in a timely manner. Route construction should be done with a minimum of overhead and bandwidth consumption.

This report examines firstly the mathematical dynamism of such ad hoc networks, which spawns the need for a different approach towards routing. Then it goes on to explain various routing protocols for ad-hoc networks and evaluates these protocols based on a given set of parameters. The paper provides an overview of various protocols by presenting their characteristics and functionality, and then provides a comparison and discussion of their respective merits and drawbacks.