A framework for routing in large ad-hoc networks with irregular topologies

Abstract

In this paper, we consider routing in large wireless multihop networks with possibly irregular topologies. Existing position-based routing protocols have deficiencies in such scenarios as they always forward packets directly towards the destination. This greedy routing frequently fails and costly recovery mechanisms have to be applied. We propose the Ants-based Mobile Routing Architecture (AMRA) for optimized routing, which combines position-based routing, topology abstraction, and swarm intelligence. AMRA routes packets along paths with high connectivity and short delays by memorizing past traffic and by using ant-like packets to discover shorter paths. The geographic topology abstraction allows AMRA to cope with high mobility and large networks. Simulative evaluation indicate that AMRA finds significantly shorter paths with only marginal overhead compared to other position-based routing protocols.