BeeIP – A Swarm Intelligence based routing for wireless ad hoc networks

Agent-based routing in wireless ad hoc networks defines a set of rules that all the participating nodes follow. Routing becomes a collaboration between nodes, reducing computational and resource costs. Swarm Intelligence uses agent-like entities from insect societies as a metaphor to solve the routing problem. Certain insects exchange information about their activities and the environment in which they operate in order to complete their tasks in an adaptive, efficient and scalable manner. This paper examines Swarm Intelligence based routing protocols, along with a newly proposed bee-inspired routing protocol for providing multi-path routing in wireless ad hoc networks of mobile nodes. Simulation results indicate that applying Swarm Intelligence offers a significant level of adaptability and efficiency that, under several network conditions, allow the protocol to outperform traditional approaches.