Reducing Broadcasting Route Request Packet through LF-AODC

Ad hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV) is one of the commonly used reactive routing protocols in mobile ad hoc network (MANET) as it can achieve relatively better communication performance. However, AODV can lead to heavy routing overhead and additional delay due to the flooding broadcast of route request (RREQ) packets during the route discovery cycle. Additionally, the multiple route reply (RREP) packets in response to a single RREQ can also contribute to overhead and additional delay. Thus, a new algorithm called Less Flooding-AODV (LF-AODV) was proposed to reduce the broadcasted RREQ and the transmitted RREP during the route discovery cycle by decreasing the number of nodes involved in the route establishment phase. A simulation test was carried out to compare the difference in performance between LF-AODV and AODV algorithms. The simulation test revealed that the steps of the route discovery process in LF-AODV were significantly reduced, thus improving its performance in terms of packet delivery fraction, end-to-end delay and routing overhead compared to the traditional algorithm. Clearly, these results reinforce the theoretical principles used in formulating the new algorithm of LF-AODV.