Abstract

Nodes in mobile ad hoc networks communicate with one another via packet radios on wireless multihop links. Because of node mobility and power limitations, the network topology changes frequently. Routing protocols therefore play an important role in mobile multihop network communications. A trend in ad hoc network routing is the reactive on-demand philosophy where routes are established only when required. Most of the protocols in this category, however, use a single route and do not utilize multiple alternate paths. We propose a scheme to improve existing on-demand routing protocols by creating a mesh and providing multiple alternate routes. Our algorithm establishes the mesh and multipaths without transmitting any extra control message. We apply our scheme to the Ad-hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) protocol and evaluate the performance improvements by simulation.