OR2: a path tuning algorithm for routing in ad hoc networks

Abstract

This paper presents "OR2", an adaptive path tuning scheme for mobile ad hoc networks. In OR2, the active path adapts dynamically to node mobility without any link failures based on the local link quality. Most conventional routing protocols accommodate the change of network topology only when the link fails. Unless the movement of intermediate nodes leads to any link failures, they cannot adapt to the network topology even if other routes with less hop count become available. In contrast to these protocols, OR2 reduces the hop count of an active route while data packets are sent without link disconnection. Specifically, by introducing the notion of proximity that indicates the nearness of two communicating nodes, OR2 skips the upstream node in a proximity area and continues to shorten an active route as possible. For delay sensitive TCP flows, reducing the number of hops and path delay significantly improves the performance of TCP. We have implemented OR2 as an extension to DSR on FreeBSD. The experimental results have shown that OR2 is effective in enhancing TCP throughput and reducing end-to-end delay for all relevant flows.