On delay-adaptive routing in wireless networks

We address the routing problem in multi-hop wireless networks and present a multipath delay-adaptive loop-free protocol with low overhead and elegant implementability. In earlier work regarding Wardrop routing, a distributed adaptive scheme using delay feedback was proposed and analyzed. In equilibrium, it results in all utilized paths from source to destination having the same delay, which is less than that over unutilized paths. In this paper, we attempt to reduce loops when Wardrop routing is used. We also present a completely distributed distance-vector like delay measurement scheme for Wardrop routing. The result is a protocol that is completely distributed, delay-adaptive, and guarantees loop-freedom. Simulations indicate that the protocol is able to re-route flows to "avoid" each other, and boosts throughput performance in wireless networks. A working implementation of the protocol on the Linux 2.4.20-6 kernel is undergoing testing.