Mobile ad-hoc networks are infrastructure-less networks consisting of wireless, possibly mobile nodes which are organized in peer-to-peer and autonomous fashion. The highly dynamic topology, limited bandwidth availability and energy constraints make the routing problem a challenging one. Recently a new family of algorithms emerged inspired by Swarm Intelligence, which provides a novel approach to distributed optimization problems. Initial studies have unveiled a great deal of matching properties between the routing requirements of ad-hoc networks and certain features of SI, such as the ability of ant colony to find a nearly optimal route between elements. Several algorithms which are based on ant colony optimization were introduced in recent years to solve the routing problem in ad-hoc networks. In this paper we offer a survey of ant-based routing algorithms for MANETs. We categorize algorithms and summarize their operation.
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