Energy aware hybrid multicast routing in mobile ad hoc networks: zone-based approach

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are formed dynamically by an autonomous system of mobile nodes that are connected via wireless radio links. Hybrid routing strategy is widely used in hierarchical routing protocols to reduce the control overheads and packet delivery delay in MANETs. In this paper, we propose zone-based energy aware hybrid multicast routing scheme (ZEHMRP) for MANET. Our scheme operates in the following phases: 1) computation of node remaining energy (RE) by designing energy model; 2) prune the nodes having remaining energy less than predefined threshold value; 3) discovery of multiple routes using request and reply packets; 4) selection of stable route among multiple routes by considering node remaining energy and density; 5) route maintenance for route breaks and node failures; 6) simulation evaluation for various parameters. It is observed that ZEHMRP outperforms the zone routing protocol (ZRP) for various parameters like packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay, jitter, and control overheads.