Implementation of Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm for Load Balancing Routing in MANET Network

Abstract

Although a lot of study has been done on the topic, ad hoc networks continue to provide a significant obstacle for academics. Routing algorithms for ad hoc networks have been improved with the use of Swarm Intelligence based techniques like ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithms. An effective routing technique, ACO-based routing is inspired by the activities of foraging ants. Collectively, ants deposit a chemical substance called pheromone on the nodes they have visited on their way to and from the nest and the food supply. Two enhancements to the AODV protocol are proposed here. The primary objectives of the protocol's design were to improve performance by decreasing routing overhead, buffer overflow, and end-to-end delay. Proposed is a multi-path routing scheme that utilises AODV and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO). The name given to this kind of routing is “Multi-Route AODV Ant Routing” (MRAA). With this strategy, energy consumption is spread out across a larger number of nodes in the network, and data packets are dispersed uniformly across all paths detected.