Supporting applications in a mobile multihop radio environment using route diversity. I. Non-real time data

This paper motivates the need for the multiple path transport (MPT) of information in a multihop mobile radio network for supporting non-real time applications. Typical applications will need a higher bandwidth/higher reliability connection than that provided by current mobile networks. For supporting these applications a mobile node may need to set up and use multiple paths to the desired destination, either simply because of the lack of raw bandwidth on a single channel or because of its poor error characteristics, which reduces its effective throughput. In the context of this work, the principal reasons for considering such an architecture are providing high bandwidth and a more robust end-to-end connection. We describe a protocol architecture that addresses this need and, with the help of simple simulation models, we show that the delay and throughput performance of multiple path schemes is significantly better than that of a conventional scheme in which one session makes use of one path. For the data applications considered in this work, there is an additional advantage of security because tapping any one path does not give access to the complete information.