Routing in ad hoc networks: A case for long hops

For multihop wireless networks, a fundamental question is whether it is advantageous to route over many short hops (short-hop routing) or over a smaller number of longer hops (longhop routing). Short-hop routing has gained a lot of support, and its proponents mainly produce two arguments: reduced energy consumption and higher signal-to-interference ratios. Both arguments stem from a simplified analysis based on crude channel models that neglects delay, end-to-end reliability, bias power consumption, the impact of channel coding, mobility, and routing overhead. In this article we shed more light on these issues by listing 18 reasons why shorthop routing is not as beneficial as it seems to be. We also provide experimental evidence to support this claim. The conclusion is that for many networks, long-hop routing is in every aspect a very competitive strategy.