Link stability and mobility in ad hoc wireless networks

The fact that ad hoc networks are required to support mobility of individual network nodes results in problems arising when routing data. These problems include route loss, poor longevity of established routes and asymmetric communications links. Mobility of nodes also increases the control traffic overhead and affects the performance of the protocol. Mobility can, however, be exploited to improve route longevity when establishing the route. In some situations, the source of information is not available (e.g. GPS information in the underground), hence protocols relying on this information will fail to operate correctly. In such situations, alternative `self-content' information should be available to perform the needed task of routing. Three novel schemes that make use of such information, the heading direction angle, to provide a mechanism for establishing and maintaining robust and long-lived routes are presented. The results show that these schemes reduce the overhead and increase the route longevity when compared with the AODV protocol. The schemes described can operate as a standalone mechanism or can be adopted by other routing protocols in order to improve their performance.