Performance Evaluation and Analysis of Proactive and Reactive MANET Protocols at Varied Speeds

A Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) is a decentralized wireless network that does not rely on pre-existing infrastructure. Instead, it is each node's responsibility to forward data according to its specified routing protocol. Although these protocols perform the same task, their performance in a variety of scenarios differ. This paper simulates four different routing protocols in NS-3 at a variety of movement speeds and area sizes, comparing their Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) and Average End-To-End Delay (AETED). The performance results reflect what would be expected if a system would be implemented in a similar environment. Therefore, it is crucial selecting a protocol to best suit a system.