A distributed routing algorithm for mobile wireless networks

We present a loop-free, distributed routing protocol for mobile packet radio networks. The protocol is intended for use in networks where the rate of topological change is not so fast as to make "flooding" the only possible routing method, but not so slow as to make one of the existing protocols for a nearly-static topology applicable. The routing algorithm adapts asynchronously in a distributed fashion to arbitrary changes in topology in the absence of global topological knowledge. The protocol's uniqueness stems from its ability to maintain source-initiated, loop-free multipath routing only to desired destinations with minimal overhead in a randomly varying topology. The protocol's performance, measured in terms of end-to-end packet delay and throughput, is compared with that of pure flooding and an alternative algorithm which is well-suited to the high-rate topological change environment envisioned here. For each protocol, emphasis is placed on examining how these performance measures vary as a function of the rate of topological changes, network topology, and message traffic level. The results indicate the new protocol generally outperforms the alternative protocol at all rates of change for heavy traffic conditions, whereas the opposite is true for light traffic. Both protocols significantly outperform flooding for all rates of change except at ultra-high rates where all algorithms collapse. The network topology, whether dense or sparsely connected, is not seen to be a major factor in the relative performance of the algorithms.