DSR Optimization in Trusted Multi-Hop Ad Hoc Networks Adopting IEEE 802.11 Technology

Existing DSR researches in a multi-hop ad hoc network usually focus on optimizations like efficient source route caching, link-state-prediction-based route discovery or multi-path communication and so on. This paper presents problems encountered by DSR within an 802.11 scenario, since 802.11 has got widely used as a basic channel access protocol in multi-hop ad hoc networks. One kind of the problems is about route discovery delay and source route availability validation during the DSR route discovery process. And the other is about neighbor probe and update, especially for the next-hop MAC address acquisition and maintenance. For the two kinds of problems, this paper puts forward corresponding optimization solutions in a trusted 802.11 DSR network. Detailed strategies are discussed. And after the simulation scenarios descriptions, optimization effectiveness is demonstrated through testing results.