Abstract:
Multi‐hop wireless ad hoc networks have attracted much attention in the field of research in modern times. In mobile ad hoc networks, nodes can be connected dynamically in a random fashion. Infrastructure of the network is not stationary in such networks. Each node works as a router and takes part in discovery and maintenance of routes to other nodes in the network. Ad hoc networks have found use in different applications. For example, a rescue team communicates with each other in a disaster recovery scene using mobile devices and Impromptu communications among groups of people like secure business issues discussions, government secret issues discussions in parliament house etc. Another example is that a military group coordinates in a battlefield where there is no existing communication network available. Generally speaking, we can visualize a multi‐hop wireless ad hoc network as a collection of mobile nodes which are capable of communicating and networking. These nodes don’t need any intervention or an infrastructure to establish and maintain a network. As nodes move around, they make and break links between them. This means that compared to a wired network, the connections between nodes in the network make and break more frequently and dynamically. Consequently, network topology changes with time. The routing protocols designed for wired networks (for instance, the Internet) generally make use of either distance vector or link state routing algorithms. In distance vector routing, each router periodically broadcasts to its neighbor routers its view of the distance to all hosts. In link state routing, each router instead periodically broadcasts to all1other routers in the network its view of the status of its adjacent network links. Due to the frequent changes of link status and network topology, these routing protocols will incur high overhead to update and maintain the route information between any pair of nodes in a mobile ad hoc network (MANET). Therefore, the routing protocols used in wired networks are rather inefficient if used in MANETs.
