A framework for self-healing and optimizing routing techniques for mobile ad hoc networks

On demand routing protocols provide scalable and cost-effective solutions for packet routing in mobile wireless ad hoc networks. The paths generated by these protocols may deviate far from the optimal because of the lack of knowledge about the global topology and the mobility of nodes. Routing optimality affects network performance and energy consumption, especially when the load is high. In this paper, we define routing optimality using different metrics such as path length, energy consumption along the path, and energy aware load balancing among the nodes. We then propose a framework of Self-Healing and Optimizing Routing Techniques (SHORT) for mobile ad hoc networks. While using SHORT, all the neighboring nodes monitor the route and try to optimize it if and when a better local subpath is available. Thus SHORT enhances performance in terms of bandwidth and latency without incurring any significant additional cost. In addition, SHORT can be also used to determine paths that result in low energy consumption or to optimize the residual battery power. Thus, we have detailed two broad classes of SHORT algorithms: Path-Aware SHORT and Energy-Aware SHORT. Finally, we evaluate SHORT using the ns-2 simulator. The results demonstrate that the performance of existing routing schemes can be significantly improved using the proposed SHORT algorithms. This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under the grants CCR-0296070 and ANI-0296034, and a generous gift from the Hewlett Packard Corporation. A preliminary version of this paper appeared in the proceedings of the ACM MobiHoc 2003. Chao Gui is a Technical Research Staff at Kiyon Inc (www.kiyon.com). His research interests include wireless networking and mobile computing. His current efforts are on industrial implementation of wireless mesh networks and embedded systems. Dr. Gui has received Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of California at Davis in 2005. Dr. Prasant Mohapatra is currently a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of California, Davis. He has also held various positions at Iowa State University, Michigan State University, Intel Corporation, Panasonic Technologies, Institute of Infocomm Research, Singapore, and the National ICT, Australia. Dr. Mohapatra received his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University in 1993. He was/is on the editorial boards of the IEEE Transactions on computers, ACM/Springer WINET, and Ad hoc Networks Journal. He has served on numerous technical program committees for international conferences, and served on several panels. He was the Program Vice-Chair of INFOCOM 2004, and the Program Co-Chair of the First IEEE International Conference on Sensor and Ad Hoc Communications and Networks, (SECON-2004). Dr. Mohapatra’s research interests are in the areas of wireless networks, sensor networks, Internet protocols and QoS.