A Performance Comparison of Routing Protocols for Maritime Wireless Mesh Networks

We envisage coverage extension of the high bit rate terrestrial communication networks to the ships to reduce the cost in maritime communications. The coverage extension is achieved by forming a mobile wireless mesh network amongst neighboring ships, marine beacons and buoys. The wireless mesh network will be connected to the terrestrial networks across multiple hops via land stations at shore. In such a multi-hop wireless network, routing protocol is important. This paper compares the performance of three existing routing protocols in a maritime communication environment. The three routing protocols are OLSR, AODV and AOMDV. The performance comparison is done via simulation. In the simulation, the wireless mesh network is formed using WiMAX mesh MAC protocol. Also, the random sea surface movement and maritime communication link characteristic are simulated. From the simulation results, we found that OLSR is not as efficient as AODV and AOMDV. Also, compared to AODV, the performance of AOMDV is less affected by sea condition.