The performance of a new routing protocol for the reconfigurable wireless networks

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the performance of a novel routing protocol, the zone routing protocol (ZRP), that was introduced in Haas (1997). The protocol is targeted at a special class of ad-hoc networks, which we refer to as the reconfigurable wireless networks (RWNs). RWNs are distinguished from other ad-hoc networks by their increased node mobility, larger number of nodes, and wider network span. We demonstrate that ZRP significantly reduces the delay and the amount of routing overhead by providing each node with continuous updates of its local neighborhood (routing zone) topology only. The structure of the routing zone is exploited to efficiently acquire routes on demand for destinations that lie beyond a node's routing zone. By adjusting a single parameter-the size of the routing zone-the ZRP can adapt to a variety of network operational conditions.