Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 4
Position-Based Routing Protocols
for Ad Hoc Networks
Liana K. Qabajeh, Laiha Mat Kiah, and Mohammad M. Qabajeh
Wireless Ad Hoc networks are collections of nodes that can communicate without
any fixed infrastructure. A crucial problem in Ad Hoc networks is finding an
efficient and correct route between a source and a destination. The need for scalable
and energy-efficient protocols, along with the recent availability of small, inexpen-
sive, and low-power positioning instruments justify adopting position-based routing
algorithms in mobile ad hoc networks.
This chapter presents an extensive overview of the existing Ad Hoc routing proto-
cols that make forwarding decisions based on the geographical position of a packet's
destination. We outline the main problems for this class of routing protocols and a
qualitative comparison of the existing methods is done. We conclude our findings by
investigating opportunities for future research.
4.1
Introduction
Ad Hoc wireless networks are self-organizing multi-hop wireless networks, where
all the hosts (or nodes) take part in the process of forwarding packets. Ad Hoc
networks can quickly and inexpensively be set up as needed since they do not
require any fixed infrastructure, such as base stations or routers. Therefore, they
are highly applicable in many fields, such as emergency deployments and com-
munity networking.
Mobile nodes in an Ad Hoc network have limited radio transmission range. Nodes
that are unable to communicate directly with each other require that intermediate
nodes forward packets for them. The function of a routing protocol in Ad Hoc
network is to establish routes between different nodes. A fundamental and chal-
lengeable task in Ad Hoc wireless network is an efficient routing protocol since all
the nodes in the network act as hosts as well as routers.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search