Mobile Ad Hoc Routing Protocols

The development of omnipresent mobile computing devices has fueled the need for dynamic reconfigurable networks. Mobile ad hoc network (MANET) routing protocols facilitate the creation of such networks, without a centralized infrastructure. One of the challenges in the study of MANET routing protocols is the evaluation and design of an effective routing protocol that works at low data rates and responds to dynamic changes in network topology due to node mobility. Reactive protocols are also called on-demand routing protocols. These protocols create routes to a destination only when required. The route discovery procedure is triggered whenever a source wants to send data to find a destination node, and the route is maintained through the route maintenance procedure until the route is no longer required. A network using an on-demand protocol will not maintain correct routing information for all nodes at all times.