Markov chain based opportunistic routing protocol to enhance the performance of the MANET

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) have inherently dynamic topologies. Due to node mobility, the links along the paths suffer frequent failure and reactivation in highly dynamic environments. A new routing paradigm, known as Opportunistic Routing (OR) has recently been proposed that finds routes in adaptive manner, based on current channel conditions in dynamic wireless environment. OR is based on the use of broadcast transmissions to expand the potential forwarders that can assist in the retransmission of the data packets. In this paper, we embark upon the basic operations of OR and a framework to support decision making for finding optimal route in the MANET. In later part we propose an adaptive algorithm to deal with OR as a Markov decision problem (MDP). Finally the comparative analysis of the proposed Markov chain based protocol with OR protocol: CORMAN has been carried out on the basis of throughput, average delay and control overhead. The proposed protocol shows the better results as compared to existing one.