Efficient routing in ad hoc networks with directional antennas

Increased mobility, connectivity and self-formation are the hallmarks of envisioned tactical communication systems. Tactical military systems, with little or no fixed infrastructure and critical QoS demands, represent one of the biggest challenges in the area of ad hoc networks. These systems must operate in varied and challenging propagation environments possibly with adversarial jamming or intrusion attempts. The use of nodes with directional antennas is advocated to solve some of these problems. However, generalized routing for networks with directional antenna equipped nodes has had little attention. A new method for determining routes by deciding network-optimized directional antenna settings is presented.