Analyzing Reactive Routing Protocols for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are ad hoc networks in which the nodes co-operatively route the traffic to the destination nodes which are beyond the wireless range of source nodes. The nodes in the network act as both end devices and routers. The routing mechanism in MANETs differentiates it from other wireless networks. Developing a routing protocol which is light on resources and efficient is a challenging task. Several routing protocols have been developed but the reactive routing protocols have found favor in most applications since these obtain the route when a node has data to send. This results in lower routing load and better conservation of meagre resources of the nodes. The two prominent reactive routing protocols for mobile ad hoc networks-Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) and Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing. Both the protocols have similar on-demand behavior, but the differences in the protocol mechanism can lead to significant performance differentials. The performance differentials are analyzed using varying network load and mobility.