Performance Effects of Algorithmic Elements in Selected MANETs Routing Protocols

摘要

Over time, several routing protocols have been suggested for use in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs). Because of availability of so many MANETs routing protocols, network engineers and administrators face difficulties in identifying an appropriate routing protocol for a particular scenario. This challenge results from the unavailability of adequate technical analytic studies designed to examine the effects of various algorithmic aspects of the available routing protocols. Availability of such studies are critical in routing identification and selection process, thus making the work of network engineers and administrators more manageable. Moreover, such studies can guide future development and implementation of MANETs routing protocols. Although there are studies meant to gauge comparative performance of various routing protocols, very little or no attempts have made to ascertain the effects of nodal topological position-information data on overall performance. This study used purposive sampling to select the routing protocols for study, literature review process to review and critique the available studies and simulation to determine the effects of nodal position-location information. Largely, MANETs routing protocols are either characterized as reactive, proactive, hybrid or location-aided. Through purposive sampling, we selected. protocol Zone Routing Protocol (ZRP) to represent hybrid routing whereas Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector routing (AODV) to represent reactive routing. Destination-Sequenced Distance Vector routing (DSDV) was selected purposively to represent proactive while Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing (GPSR) was selected purposively to represent location-assisted routing. Initial elementary scalar variables of data throughput, packet drop rates, average delay and the number of packets received are simulated on NS2—to simulate ZRP and OMNET++–to simulate AODV, DSDV and GPSR. Simulation data from the two simulators was analyzed on RapidMiner. Simulation results indicate that GPSR outperforms other selected routing protocols. This result can possibly be attributed to presence of nodal topological position-location data in GPSR algorithm. However, this study held the number of nodes constant throughout the simulation process. Simulation results suggest that GPSR has better output in packet delivery ratio, delay and overall data packet throughput. The results suggest that inclusion of position-location algorithm in a routing protocol algorithm may enhance its performance. Clearly, the study findings suggest that it is prudent to select and implement a routing protocol that uses nodal position-location in its algorithm.