AODVH: Ad Hoc On-Demand Distance Vector Routing for Hybrid Nodes

Ad hoc networks are characterized by nodes which are usually connected by low data rate Radio Frequency (RF) links when compared to optical links. RF links make it challenging for transmitting video and running high bandwidth applications over ad hoc networks. The objective of this paper is to develop a novel routing protocol for Ad hoc networks consisting of hybrid nodes using high bandwidth Free Space Optical (FSO) and RF links, with FSO being the primary link and RF as backup in case of FSO link failures. Our protocol, called Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector hybrid (AODVH), computes multiple "FSO only" paths to ensure high data rate communication, and uses "hybrid paths" consisting of FSO and RF links as backups. AODVH can be used to design a rapidly deployable, reliable and high bandwidth communication infrastructure for re-establishing communication following a disaster. We evaluate the performance of AODVH using ns-2 simulations and compare with three other Ad hoc routing protocols. Results show that AODVH performs better in terms of packet loss, end-to-end delay, overhead, packet delivery ratio, route discovery frequency and throughput when compared to the other three protocols.