MANET routing protocols vs mobility models: A performance evaluation

The fundamental characteristic which differentiates MANETs from other wireless or wired networks is mobility. Therefore, MANET routing protocols are designed to adaptively cater for dynamic changes in topology while maximizing throughput and packet delivery ratio, and minimizing delay, routing load and energy consumption. A major design issue for an efficient and effective routing protocol for real MANETs is, therefore, to achieve optimum values of performance parameters under network scenarios where nodes are subjected to different types of mobility that dynamically change the network topology. Our simulative study on MANET routing protocols and mobility models aims to determine the performance of current MANET routing protocols with respect to various mobility models implemented in ns-2. We compare a number of reactive and proactive routing protocols including AODV, DSR, DSDV, OLSR and DYMO. The results of our extensive network simulations are tabulated along with a comprehensive analysis. The effort allows a fair comparison of the capabilities and limitations of different types of mobility patterns and their suitability for contemporary MANET routing protocols.