Route selection in mobile multimedia ad hoc networks

The problem of routing packets in ad hoc networks is complex due to the lack of network infrastructure, shifting the reliance of packet forwarding onto the nodes of the network, all of which are mobile. In order to improve the robustness and adaptation of protocols for ad hoc networks to node mobility, we propose a new metric that bases route selection on the probability of the existence of the route (route availability). Specifically, we derive a simple closed form expression for the computation of the availability of a route, that takes into account node mobility and dependencies between links, which can then be used to satisfy the requirements of multimedia applications. In particular, we show how by efficiently collecting measures about the geographic location of other nodes, each node of an ad hoc network can locally and efficiently compute multiple paths to a given destination node, and, based on the introduced metric, choose the route that best meets the strict requirements of multimedia applications.