Analysis of Link Break Detection using HELLO Messages

摘要

HELLO messages are widely used for neighbor discovery in routing protocols for wireless multihop networks. In this paper, we provide mathematical and experimental proofs that the current strategy of declaring a link down based on observations that a specific number of HELLO messages are lost, is not a correct strategy. In our mathematical analysis, we characterized the error bursts over wireless links by extending the Gilbert bit error model, and validate our model using HELLO loss data from our wireless mesh testbed. Our analysis shows that error burst lengths follow a geometric distribution, i.e. the probability of additional losses in the burst does not depend on the observed losses. We propose an alternative link break detection strategy where a link break is declared when the observed mean error burst length for the link is longer than the mean route recovery time. Our testbed results show that running the AODV routing protocol with our proposed strategy yields better throughput and lower control message overhead, compared to the case where AODV relies on its default settings of declaring link breaks when two consecutive HELLO messages are lost.