Performance analysis of zone routing protocols in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

In Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs), routing is a challenging task due to node mobility, traffic and network size. It is very important to analyze the scalability characteristics of the routing protocols with respect to these parameters. Zone Routing Protocol (ZRP) is considered to be one of the most scalable routing protocols due to its multi-scoping and hybridization features. We propose a general, parameterized model for analyzing control overhead of ZRP. A generic probabilistic model for data traffic is also proposed which can be replaced by different traffic models. Our analytical model is validated by comparisons with simulations performed under different network scenarios. In our simulation results, we have observed that the optimal zone radius lies at a point where proactive and reactive overhead components of ZRP are approximately equal as observed in. Further, as the mobility increases the optimal zone radius value decreases, and as the traffic increases the value of optimal zone radius increases. If a node operates away from the optimal zone radius setting then it has to bear additional routing overhead. We show that the additional overhead is around 35% higher under a wide range of mobility scenarios.