An efficient protocol for load-balanced multipath routing in mobile ad hoc networks

In this paper, we propose a new routing protocol called the Least Common Multiple based Routing (LCMR) for load-balanced multipath routing in Mobile Ad hoc NETworks (MANETs). First, we find multiple paths between a source to a destination, when those exist, along with the estimates of the time to route a packet along each of these paths. The data packets originating from the source to the destination are then distributed along these multiple paths in such a way that the number of data packets sent along any such path is inversely proportional to the routing time through this path. This distribution strategy keeps the load balanced along all the paths so that the overall routing time for sending the data packets is minimized. Routes between a given source-destination pair are discovered in a way similar to that in the Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol with the difference that instead of the number of hops, the routing time for reaching the destination along every route is measured, and multiple routes, if those exist, will also be determined by the route discovery process. Our proposed technique for distribution of packets along different routes is very elegant with a better performance than the existing load-balanced routing protocols like Fibonacci Multipath Load Balancing (FMLB) and Multiple AODV (MAODV), as established from a theoretical analysis as well as through simulation results. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.