FDAR: A load-balanced routing scheme for mobile ad-hoc networks

In this paper, we propose an efficient and practical routing scheme for MANETs based on a new routing metric called the free-degree of nodes. In the proposed routing scheme named FDAR (Free-Degree Adaptive Routing), it is intended to deliver data packets circumventing congested routes, so as to realize a short end-to-end delay and a moderate load balancing of the overall network. In addition, it tries to avoid frequent and unnecessary invocation of route discovery process which would significantly degrade the routing performance of the MANET. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is evaluated by simulation. The result of simulations indicates that it certainly outperforms previous load-balanced routing, schemes including DLAR and LBAR, in terms of the packet loss rate and the average end-to-end delay.