Extended Comparison and Performance Analysis for Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks Routing Protocols Based on Different Traffic Load Patterns and Performance Metrics

A mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) is a network of mobile nodes that dynamically form a transitory network lacking any existence of infrastructure and any form of centralized management. Nodes in ad hoc networks are powered by batteries with a limited lifespan and communicate in a restricted bandwidth. The unpredictable environment of a MANET may run into a major concern in the routing mechanism, therefore the need for a routing protocol with robust performance is still one of the key challenges in MANET deployment. In this work, a comparative comparison and extensive simulation analysis have been carried out for three major routing protocols: destination sequenced distance vector (DSDV), dynamic source routing (DSR) and ad hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV). Protocol evaluation has been extended by considering several simulation arrangements, different classes of traffic load patterns and diverse performance metrics. Based on packet rate change, node quantity and node speed, simulation scenarios were generated. Protocols were investigated against energy consumption, throughput, lost packets, routing load and packet delivery fraction for three types of traffic load patterns regular, irregular and joint traffic. DSR and AODV protocols proved to be more reliable when joint traffic was implemented when node speed and packets variations are considered. DSDV protocol verifies outstanding response over other protocols in terms of energy consumption when either regular or irregular traffic is applied. The simulation results for DSR protocol have verified the superiority over other protocols in 9 simulation scenarios when diverse metrics are considered. DSDV showed optimal performance in 7 cases, especially at low packet rates and in networks with minimum number of nodes. Similarly, AODV protocol showed outstanding performance in 6 scenarios, when higher packet rates and node mobility are considered.