Multipath routing in ad hoc networks using directional antennas

A new routing scheme for ad hoc networks using directional antennas is introduced in this paper. Ad hoc networks with directional antennas have become an active research topic because of the potential capacity increase through spatial reuse. Currently researchers have applied conventional ad hoc routing protocols (e.g. DSR, AODV) on this type of network, and routing schemes are based on the shortest path metric. However such a routing approach often suffers long transmission delay and frequent link breakage at the intermediate nodes along a selected route. This is caused by a unique feature of directional transmission commonly known as "deafness". In this work, we take a different approach by exploring the advantage of spatial reuse through multipath routing. A study on the effectiveness of conventional routing schemes in ad hoc networks with directional antennas is presented, and a special design of a multipath routing algorithm for directional transmissions is proposed. Experimental results demonstrate a clear performance improvement in terms of throughput and delay.