Optimized Termite: A bio-inspired routing algorithm for MANET's

A Mobile Adhoc Network (MANET) is a collection of mobile nodes connected by the Wireless medium and each mobile node is aware of only its neighbours. Due to mobility of these mobile nodes the topology changes dynamically. Such a dynamic network topology makes the task of routing a challenging one. Recently, a new class of routing algorithms based on Swarm Intelligence has emerged. These algorithms are inspired by nature's self-organizing systems like ant-colonies, bird-flocks, honey-bees, school of fish, spiders and fireflies. The characteristics of such algorithms are their capability of self-organization, adaptation to the changing conditions, self healing and local decision making. In this work, a routing protocol inspired by the termite activity in nature, called Optimized-Termite (Opt-Termite), is proposed. Opt-Termite uses concept of stigmergy for self-organization, thereby reducing the control packet overhead. Opt-Termite mainly concentrates on load balancing for optimization. With Opt-Termite, a route with less loaded mobile nodes in terms of traffic will be chosen to reach destination. The routing information at each node gets influenced by the movement of packets and the routing table will be updated accordingly. It also allows the use of multiple paths and each packet is routed randomly and independently. Opt-Termite is implemented in ns-2 and its performance is compared with traditional routing protocol AODV. Opt-Termite's performance has been promising.